Arizona labor unions and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) have reached an agreement to resolve labor disputes that have dogged the chipmaker’s construction site in Phoenix, Arizona, they said in a joint statement.
The new accord is the result of months of negotiations between the world’s leading chipmaker and the Arizona Building and Construction Trades Council (AZBTC), a coalition of unions with 3,000 members on site — about one-quarter of TSMC’s total construction workforce.
Under the agreement, TSMC — which is investing US$40 billion in Arizona — plans to partner with unions to develop workforce training programs and maintain transparency on safety issues.
Photo: An Rong Xu, Bloomberg
Representatives of both sides are forming a new committee that is to meet quarterly to ensure compliance, including at least one meeting to project workforce requirements.
The joint statement said that TSMC is committed to hiring locally, but that “circumstances may require” the firm to tap foreign workers with “specialized experience.”
TSMC had upset union members this summer by saying a lack of skilled labor in the Phoenix region left the firm with no choice but to bring over workers from Taiwan.
“Today’s agreement is a win for Arizona workers and the construction timeline of TSMC Arizona,” trades council president Aaron Butler said.
“AZBTC union members have the critical skills necessary to help us complete our two advanced-chipmaking fabs, and we look forward to embarking together on a new chapter of partnership and collaboration,” TSMC Arizona president Brian Harrison said.
The accord achieves one of the union’s key goals: getting something on paper before the US Department of Commerce disperses the first round of funding from the Chips Act, with TSMC widely expected to be among the initial recipients.
The Chips Act sets aside subsidies worth US$100 billion to bring manufacturing of critical electronic components back to the US after decades of production abroad.
TSMC was one of Washington’s biggest targets for US investment and the company broke ground on a sprawling facility in Phoenix in 2021.
The firm originally planned to begin mass production next year, but in July announced a delay to 2025 due to what they said was a shortage of skilled labor, rankling the unions.
TSMC chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in October affirmed that the company plans to start production in Arizona in the first half of 2025.
South Korea’s equity benchmark yesterday crossed a new milestone just a month after surpassing the once-unthinkable 5,000 mark as surging global memory demand powers the country’s biggest chipmakers. The KOSPI advanced as much as 2.6 percent to a record 6,123, with Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc each gaining more than 2 percent. With the benchmark now up 45 percent this year, South Korea’s stock market capitalization has also moved past France’s, following last month’s overtaking of Germany’s. Long overlooked by foreign funds, despite being undervalued, South Korean stocks have now emerged as clear winners in the global market. The so-called “artificial intelligence
NEW IDENTITY: Known for its software, India has expanded into hardware, with its semiconductor industry growing from US$38bn in 2023 to US$45bn to US$50bn India on Saturday inaugurated its first semiconductor assembly and test facility, a milestone in the government’s push to reduce dependence on foreign chipmakers and stake a claim in a sector dominated by China. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened US firm Micron Technology Inc’s semiconductor assembly, test and packaging unit in his home state of Gujarat, hailing the “dawn of a new era” for India’s technology ambitions. “When young Indians look back in the future, they will see this decade as the turning point in our tech future,” Modi told the event, which was broadcast on his YouTube channel. The plant would convert
‘SEISMIC SHIFT’: The researcher forecast there would be about 1.1 billion mobile shipments this year, down from 1.26 billion the prior year and erasing years of gains The global smartphone market is expected to contract 12.9 percent this year due to the unprecedented memorychip shortage, marking “a crisis like no other,” researcher International Data Corp (IDC) said. The new forecast, a dramatic revision down from earlier estimates, gives the latest accounting of the ongoing memory crunch that is affecting every corner of the electronics industry. The demand for advanced memory to power artificial intelligence (AI) tasks has drained global supply until well into next year and jeopardizes the business model of many smartphone makers. IDC forecast about 1.1 billion mobile shipments this year, down from 1.26 billion the prior
People stand in a Pokemon store in Tokyo on Thursday. One of the world highest-grossing franchises is celebrated its 30th anniversary yesterday.
RSS