Posted on 04/25/2024 9:28:07 PM PDT by anthropocene_x
Bruce the young American engineer had been eager for a stable, high-paying job in the semiconductor industry. Then, in late 2020, he received a LinkedIn message from a recruiter for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. The job sounded like he’d be “pushing the boundaries of human technology,” he recalled to Rest of World.
Over the next two years, Bruce came to realize the reality of working at TSMC wasn’t what he had envisioned. While working on nanometer-level processes to make state-of-the-art chips, he struggled with language barriers, long hours, and a strict hierarchy. Bruce soon began second-guessing what he had signed up for.
Other U.S. workers who spoke to Rest of World echoed Bruce’s concerns. The American engineers complained of rigid, counterproductive hierarchies at the company. Taiwanese TSMC veterans described their American counterparts as lacking the kind of dedication and obedience they believe to be the foundation of their company’s world-leading success.
TSMC’s work culture is notoriously rigorous, even by Taiwanese standards. Former executives, speakin about Taiwan’s competitiveness compared to the U.S., said that “if [a machine] breaks down at one in the morning, in the U.S. it will be fixed in the next morning. But in Taiwan, it will be fixed at 2 a.m.” And, he added, the wife of a Taiwanese engineer would “go back to sleep without saying another word.”
Managers sometimes applied what they called “stress tests” by announcing assignments due the same day or week, to make sure the Americans were able to meet tight deadlines and sacrifice personal time like Taiwanese workers. Managers shamed American workers in front of their peers, sometimes by suggesting they quit engineering.
One former American TSMC engineer said his manager instructed him to follow along with daily meetings, which were conducted in Mandarin, just by looking at the associated PowerPoints.
(Excerpt) Read more at restofworld.org ...
The birth rate in countries like Korea, Taiwan, China is recently dropping too low. Not enough taxpayers. Governments there are having a hard time understanding why, and giving some childcare subsidies to reverse it.
I wonder how many ChiCom moles work in these Taiwanese companies?
Toyota couldn’t open a factory in America because the workers were not smart enough.
That's absolutely not true.
Companies willing to pay decent wages don't have any problem finding talent. Foreign companies in particular enjoy having talented staff who can adjust as needed.
>> he struggled with language barriers, long hours, and a strict hierarchy.
I have done extensive work at TSMC fabs in Taiwan.
They DO have a work ethic and a chain of command.
The article says that like it’s a bad thing.
But you know what? INSIDE Taiwan fabs where you KNOW they mostly speak Chinese, we NEVER EVER ran into a language barrier. Taiwanese English is overall excellent — and not just in the semiconductor industry.
So... I dunno... maybe just maybe wokie “Bruce” doesn’t communicate in English so well!
I’m making it up? They had plans in Ohio, or some place near canada, but the cost to retool the machines so the illiterate uhmurrican could understand them was too much to be cost productive, so they moved to Canada.
> rigid, counterproductive hierarchies at the company
Those “counterproductive” hierarchies haves stopped them from dominating the global market in semiconductor manufacturing.
I believe my Toyota was built in Kentucky.
I used to work in employee benefits in Silicon Valley. I called on one company who had a whole floor of Chinese communist H1B visa workers and another floor of Taiwanese workers the HR Director said that she could not put them on the same floor because they won’t speak to each other and fight if did they do.
One of my first jobs was working for Taiwanese. I wouldn’t ever do it again. They follow a very similar corporate and work structure to Japan
I understand why TSMC is successful, but this article gave me flashbacks.
Americans will sacrifice and will work hard to achieve a goal, but I doubt Taiwanese will be able to figure out how to do this.
Very few, if any I imagine. Taiwanese, while Chinese, are still distinct in their language, culture, upbringing etc... Taiwan is a small place, and they can spot a mainlander, a twinge in an accent, and outsider from a mile away. It sounds like the culture in TSMC is also quite strict, uniform and hierarchical, like that of a military unit, making it even harder for a mainland spy get in, or succeed within it.
They aren't infected with American "political correctness" or stupid genuflecting to "diversity." I highly doubt they are hiring any mainlanders for assignment in Taiwan or USA. If anyone were to spy for chicoms, it would more likely be an individual Taiwanese who would be a traitor
Just a guess from my experiences with both
The only Americans that are illiterate are those who spent 12 years locked up in the public indoctrination system.
Probably the original Cambridge Toyota plant.
For whatever reason, despite Canada’s many deficiencies, Canada’s auto assembly plants are consistently at the top of the heap for North America.
“ The article says that like it’s a bad thing.”
Sums up the article.
I was going to sing about how the Toyota shines bright at your old Kentucky home, but there’s some reference to homosexual African-Americans in the piece, and I would rather remain in good standing with the FR admins.
In short, you can’t Shanghai a ChiCom into Peking on semiconductors, or there’ll be hell Taipei.
“The only Americans that are illiterate are those who spent 12 years locked up in the public indoctrination system.”
Where they learn that reading and doing math at grade level is racist.
Then what was that Toyota plant I toured in Princeton, IN doing there? And isn't there another in Huntsville, AL making trucks?
“So... I dunno... maybe just maybe wokie “Bruce” doesn’t communicate in English so well!”
I was wondering similar myself. It’s likely his work ethic and ability to take orders is similar to many of today’s younger generations. And this guy is whining to some news outlet, like a lib attention whore, something his employers might discover. He’s a leftard.
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