General > General Technical Chat
TSMC delays opening of Arizona plant.
Bud:
I do not buy that argument. "Existense" of skilled workers out there that build chipmaking plants left and right. How many exactly chipmaking plants and foundries are built every year these days? Not many if any, I guess. And if the domestic workforce are "not familiar with chipmaking plants requirements", get the goddamn Requirements and standards documents and read them.
rstofer:
No highly qualified tech worker is going to leave a job rich environment like Silicon Gulch to move to a one-employer town in the middle of nowhere. The companies know this, or should, and realize they are going to have to grow their own. They would like to get some help from community colleges in terms of specialty training classes and, probably more important, math. Not math for the sake of numbers necessarily but rather an approach to problem solving. There will always be a surplus of problems.
There are other problems, notably supply chain. Specialty gases, specialty chemicals, specialty facility equipment (DI water production for example), filters, UV lamps, a whole shopping list of things that won't be available locally and the profit from dealing with a single customer (or short list of customers) won't entice a local supplier to get involved.
Hazmat disposal is another issue as is sewer treatment capacity. I don't know how wet the processes are today but even a modest fab would use about a half million gallons of water per day back in the mid '80s. I couldn't imagine what a mega-fab would take based on those processes.
Power requirements could be quite large if diffusion furnaces are still part of the procress. Given the internal heat gain (substantial) the HVAC systems are quite large. Thousand ton chillers (more than one) are certainly in the mix. Water and sewer systems will be strained no matter where the site is placed.
These issues are not unknown, the companies just want somebody else to help pay for them.
Don't forget specialty training for first responders! Often the companies provide a level of response but that won't include large scale events. Does the Building Department even understand what they are approving?
dobsonr741:
These are the job listings for TSMC:
https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=TSMC&l=Arizona
This is how it looks - 60 pics on Google map:
https://goo.gl/maps/g4sVJr41wSVDTWCK6
The minimum they ask for a mask process engineer:
Applicants must be legally eligible to work in the United States and have:
A minimum of a B.S. Degree in an engineering and scientific field such as Physics, Material Science, Chemical Engineering, Electric Engineering, Chemistry, or Mechanical Engineering. Master degree and above is preferred.
* No prior experience required, need good communication and interpersonal skills that enable you to work on cross-functional and geographically dispersed teams.
* Able to adapt priorities and responsibilities to support business needs.
* A team player that can multitask and thrive in a very dynamic and fast-paced environment.
* Ability to travel to Taiwan for training for up to 6 months if needed.
Wallace Gasiewicz:
QUOTE:
Mr Liu said the plant, which has been under construction since April 2021, faced a shortage of workers with the "specialised expertise required for equipment installation in a semiconductor-grade facility."
This says that the problem is in installation of equipment.Usually any new equipment in a factory comes with a cadre of technicians and engineers that are from the company that makes the equipment. They tend to upset all your Plant Engineers and verbal altercations are common.
Are they saying the equipment manufacturers do not have installation experts??? I highly doubt that.
Finding resident Plant Engineers would be another story. Lots of specialized stuff. Finding plant engineers with qualifications in stuff like Arsine Gas Safety and Laminar Air Flow and air filtering and strict temperature conditions might be difficult. All this and the waste safety and Industrial Hygiene experts and even roof engineers, But this is a continuing job, not just start up help. These Plant Engineers exist. you just have to pry them away from their present jobs. Money solves that problem all the time.
And besides that, there might be some older Engineers who are thinking of retiring to Arizona and would welcome a few year stint in their potential retirement paradise.
TimFox:
There are immigration/red-tape issues with having installation engineers from a foreign country on site for an extended period: work permits, etc.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version