On Labor Day, President Joe Biden released a new ad in Arizona promoting a “manufacturing boom” in the state, despite the recent delay at the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) microchip plant in Phoenix, which recently claimed a lack of skilled workers will prevent the new facility from opening until 2025.
The 30-second ad features Phoenix resident Bill Ruiz, according to The Hill, who brags that “we’re building some of the biggest tech factories in the world right here” in Arizona, and specifically lists new semiconductor factories as an example, ultimately crediting “the laws that Joe Biden got passed” for making their construction possible.
However, TSMC, a Taiwanese company that has become the world’s largest manufacturer of semiconductors, drew ire from residents when it announced a year-long delay in its new Phoenix factory during a July 21 earnings call, citing an alleged lack of skilled workers in Arizona to complete the construction.
A microchip is a general term for semiconductor component products, while the term semiconductor refers to components that are widely used in most modern electronics.
TSMC is the primary manufacturer of microchips for the Apple iPhone product line, and will reportedly be used to create processors for all new iPhones and some new Apple computers in the near future. TSMC’s first Arizona factory was originally slated to open in 2024, with a second to become operational in 2026.
The feud between TSMC and Arizona escalated in August, when the Arizona Pipe Trade 469 Union, with more than 4,000 members in the state, started a petition asking U.S. lawmakers to deny visas to up to 500 Taiwanese nationals who TSMC wanted to bring into the country to complete construction of the Phoenix factory.
A website affiliated with the union warns that Arizona “jobs are in danger” because TSMC wants “good construction jobs to go to foreign workers – in this case from Taiwan,” and specifically blamed Biden and his CHIPS Act for the problem.
The CHIPS Act provided nearly $300 billion to fund research and manufacturing of semiconductors in the United States, but according to union president Aaron Butler, a “loophole” in the CHIPS Act means foreign companies must hire Americans to work at their new factories, but may use foreign labor to build them.
