- By Annabelle Liang
- Business Correspondent
image source, Good pictures
President Biden at TSMC’s Arizona factory
Chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor (DSMC) has delayed the start of production at its factory in the US state of Arizona, setting back President Biden’s technology ambitions.
The company says it won’t start chip production next year due to a shortage of skilled workers.
And the White House has plans to bring chip manufacturing to the US.
It comes as a trade row between Washington and Beijing centers on intensifying technology.
Shares of TSMC fell more than 3% in Taiwan on Friday.
On Thursday, TSMC Chairman Mark Liu said production of the advanced microprocessors at the Arizona factory in the US southwest will now begin in 2025.
During the earnings presentation, Mr Liu said the plant, under construction from April 2021, faced a shortage of workers “with the specialized expertise required to install equipment in a low-grade facility”.
He added that the company is working to improve the situation, including sending experienced technicians from Taiwan to train local skilled workers. [in the US] for a short time”.
TSMC predicts a 10% drop in sales this year due to slower demand for semiconductors.
The company said its profit fell about 23% to 181.8 billion Taiwan dollars ($5.8bn; £4.5bn) in the three months to the end of June compared with the same period last year.
TSMC first announced plans to build a facility in Arizona in 2020 when Donald Trump was president.
At the time, the first of TSMC’s two semiconductor manufacturing facilities at the Arizona plant would be operational in 2024, and the second would come online in 2026, Mr Liu said.
The long-running technology dispute has seen the US impose a series of measures against China’s chipmaking industry while investing billions of dollars to boost the US semiconductor industry.
The United States produces about 10% of the global supply of computer chips critical to everything from cars to mobile phones. In 1990, the country accounted for nearly 40% of world production.
The investment includes tax incentives for companies that build computer chip manufacturing plants in the country.
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