TSMC is having more luck building in Japan than in America
TSMC’s smoother progress building chip fabs in Japan than in the United States is prompting debate over why advanced manufacturing flourishes more easily abroad. Commenters point to generous and reliable Japanese subsidies, coordinated industrial policy, and cooperative labor relations, contrasting them with U.S. regulatory delays, union disputes, higher skilled-labor costs, and political gridlock around the CHIPS Act. The exchange broadens into questions about national security, deindustrialization, and whether America’s economic mix and institutions can still support large, strategically vital factories on its own soil.
Geopolitics and Location Choice
- Many argue the US mainly wants chip capacity safe from China, not strictly on US soil; Japan and South Korea can serve that role.
- Others counter that anything within Chinese missile range (Taiwan, Japan, Korea) is strategically fragile; continental US fabs are the only truly secure option.
- Some see Japan as a likely future Chinese target after Taiwan, making on‑shore US capacity eventually unavoidable.
Why Japan Is Working Better for TSMC
- Japan delivered large subsidies, lined up big local partners (Sony, Denso, Toyota), and targets more mature nodes (12–28nm), seen as easier to ramp.
- In the US, commenters cite disputes with construction unions, profit‑sharing demands, slower subsidy delivery, and stricter regulations, especially in Arizona.
- Several see this as evidence the US is “not serious” or at least incompetent in industrial policy; others say industrial policy is inherently hard in a federal system.
Labor, Unions, and Work Culture
- Strong theme: US construction unions resisting imported Taiwanese specialists versus TSMC’s desire for experienced fab builders.
- Some claim US mid‑skill workers are less disciplined/cooperative than Japanese; others insist US workers are among the world’s most productive and frame this as anti‑union spin.
- Big disagreement on unions: portrayed by some as rent‑seeking, corrupt, and productivity‑reducing; by others as essential partners when structured like in Japan/Northern Europe.
- There is concern that top US talent avoids semiconductors for better‑paid law/finance/software roles, worsening the skills gap.
Regulation, Costs, and “Can’t Build” Narrative
- Many blame US permitting (environmental review, local veto power, litigation) for extreme delays and cost overruns versus Japan’s more coordinated approach.
- Others defend regulations as responses to past disasters (“paid in blood”) and warn against dismantling protections just to match foreign speed.
- Debate over whether US standards are actually higher or just more bureaucratic; evidence in the thread is anecdotal and contested.
Broader Structural Issues
- Comments link US struggles to decades of underinvestment in vocational education, housing and infrastructure, and a culture favoring financialization and SaaS over manufacturing.
- Several note that fabless US chip firms are more profitable than manufacturers, so markets alone won’t rebuild domestic fabs without sustained subsidies.