TSMC feels 'good' about possible Germany plant, in subsidy talks

3 years ago by Ninmi to c/europe

Taiwan chipmaker TSMC is feeling "good" about talks towards setting up its first European factory in Germany, where it is in subsidy discussions with the government, the company's chairman said on Tuesday.

genfood 19 points 3 years ago

It’s important for Germany and the EU too.

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LetterboxPancake 15 points 3 years ago

Curious how they will understand and adapt to German work ethics and laws.

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maynarkh 10 points 3 years ago

They will just outsource the actual manufacturing to Easter European countries with atrocious labor laws.

I hope I'm not right.

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DrFuggles 9 points 3 years ago

Yeah, the May issue of Wired magazine had a lengthy portrayal of TSMC as a company and their work ethic apparently made it very difficult to bring in American employees of TSMC to the HQ in Taiwan. Considering EU labor laws and German work-life balance priorities, not sure how well this can go 😅

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driest 1 point 3 years ago

thanks for pointing that out, interesting insights in that article, but wow that was the worst piece of writing I had to endure in a long time. It's amazing how you can say so little with so much text.

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DrFuggles 2 points 3 years ago

Yeeeaaaahhhhh, I usually enjoy Virginia Heffernan's writing, but this piece was something else. Too dreamy and poetic for most of it. Like, I get that you metaphorically stared God in the face considering the nano-tech going on in TSMC's fabs and that you want to convey a sense of absolute awe... but it gets tiring really fast

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Bastelwombat 4 points 3 years ago

Is chip production labor intensive? My guess would be that the labor is negligible, compared to the cost for machines, knowhow etc.

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Artraxon 5 points 3 years ago

Yes, it is. Of course a lot of things are automated, but the amount of effort needed to run a fan efficiently is just insane.

Here's a video about the exactly same discussion, just with regards to the US

https://youtu.be/jlAWx_X5opA

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fouc 4 points 3 years ago

I guess it makes sense for them to diversify their plant locations given the uncertainties around Taiwan/China relations. Germany also has quite a lot of know-how in microfabrication and there's already a non-insignificant cluster of companies in the sector. I guess that's why Intel decided to go there and it makes sense for TSMC to do so at some point. In any case, we're talking over a 10+ years horizon.

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Ninmi 2 points 3 years ago

I just don't want us to forget about Taiwan in the process. That chip dependency does seem to bring them a fair bit of safety guarantees.

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Tywele 3 points 3 years ago

That would be great

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