Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is recruiting Taiwanese technicians without a university degree or related experience to work at its planned plant in Arizona, media reports said last week.
However, the world’s largest contract chipmaker is asking that job candidates speak fluent English, with a score of 800 or better on the Test of English for International Communication, the reports said.
An increasing number of companies and schools in Taiwan use the test for recruitment purposes or as a requirement for graduation.
Photo: Yimou Lee T, Reuters
TSMC’s Fab 21 in Arizona is expected to start production of advanced 5-nanometer chips in 2024.
The company needs workers at the new factory who can operate the machines, inspect the products, and detect equipment failures or abnormalities, while working flexible shift arrangements and overtime, depending on the production schedule, the reports said.
TSMC would subsidize accommodation, transportation and return travel, they added.
The reports have people wondering why TSMC is recruiting Taiwanese instead of Americans for the Arizona plant.
An article on Friday by the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) cited industry sources as saying that differences in work culture between the two countries are the main reason, as Americans generally do not like working night shifts or overtime.
TSMC might consider Taiwanese technicians more suitable for the plant, it added.
As the technicians would need to communicate with engineers and supervisors, and would need to live in the US for some time, TSMC considers speaking fluent English to be an essential skill, the Liberty Times said.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most