![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/10.11-1200x675.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIt takes an ecosystem<\/h3>\n
Taiwan’s semiconductor sector, led by firms such as TSMC, is bolstered by a network of over 1,200 vigorous and capable primary vendors<\/a>\u00a0(and a multitude of their smaller suppliers) that play a crucial role in maintaining Taiwan’s economic stability. Exports in 2021, smack in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, grew 25%.<\/p>\n Taiwan\u2019s chip ecosystem is much like Germany’s Mittelstand model<\/a> \u2014 wherein SMEs, in order to maintain global competitiveness, form strategic, local partnerships to drive technological advancements. Hermann Simon, author of Hidden Champions<\/em> and a former visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, points out<\/a> that Mittelstand SMEs often are challenged with economies of scale. These \u201chidden champions\u201d overcome their smaller size by leveraging specialized products across vast global markets. Global marketing and sales ensure the SMEs\u2019 adequate reach so they can cover the cost of research and development while maintaining competitive pricing.<\/p>\n Similarly, Taiwan\u2019s SMEs help larger Taiwanese semiconductor firms by supplying them with services and component parts that help the likes of TSMC save money, thus creating a valuable, specialized, and well-trained supply chain ecosystem.<\/p>\n TSMC participates in a Mittelstand-like framework<\/a>, collaborating with SME suppliers such as Taiwan Specialty Chemicals Corp and facility construction experts United Integrated Services \u2014 just two of many Taiwanese companies that share their capabilities to enable partners large and small to foster an ecosystem that underpins the whole of Taiwan’s chip sector. While TSMC collaborates with a host of SME suppliers, it also encourages a competitive environment amongst them, pushing them always to improve and vie for orders based on cost and quality, fostering innovation and efficiency in the process.<\/p>\n The U.S. chipmaking sector, with its rich history of innovation, stands at a critical juncture, facing strong competition from the speedy rise of government-backed chipmakers in China.<\/p>\n To energize America\u2019s own chipmaking sector, U.S. companies and lawmakers should consider the approach taken by Taiwan, one of collaborative competition. This approach not only aligns with American competitive corporate spirit but also guards against atrophy in the sector.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Reynolds of the National Economic Council highlights<\/a> the need for over 100,000 new U.S. semiconductor manufacturing workers by 2030 \u2014 a target that demands structural changes in talent acquisition and assistance to SMEs.<\/p>\n To build a strong U.S. semiconductor sector that rhymes with Taiwan\u2019s and echoes Germany\u2019s, American companies and lawmakers must do more than observe these models: They must strategically integrate their crucial dynamics.<\/p>\n The South Koreans are doing it. Samsung, the semiconductor titan, is sowing seeds in the U.S.<\/a>, in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin. By fueling research, extending scholarships, and upgrading labs, Samsung Austin Semiconductor aims to amplify the grassroots talent pipeline vital to Central Texas’s emerging semiconductor industry.<\/p>\n In a parallel stride, TSMC and Intel are channeling substantial investments to solidify the semiconductor infrastructure in Arizona through collaborations with Arizona State University. TSMC\u2019s $40 billion semiconductor fabrication plant, now under construction outside Phoenix, surely will benefit, but for the U.S. to achieve a chips ecosystem fully as bright as Taiwan’s remains a formidable challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cThe difference between the U.S and Taiwan is that, in Taiwan, TSMC is probably one of the most desirable employers there,\u201d Burn Lin (\u6797\u672c\u5805 L\u00edn B\u011bnji\u0101n), former vice president at TSMC and elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, said<\/a> at a talk at the Harvard Ash Center for Governance and Innovation in September. \u201cWe’re supposed to be able to grab all the best students in Taiwan, but it’s different if you put a TSMC plant in Phoenix or in Washington. The competition for talent is even more severe.\u201d<\/p>\n Closing the talent gap goes beyond global chip companies partnering with U.S. universities. Growing talent demands a holistic strategy that merges specialized research and training while also encouraging a spirit of sharing between academia and industry.<\/p>\n Taiwanese SME managers, used to a Mandarin-speaking workforce and an island economy deeply linked to the semiconductor industry, harbor concerns about compatibility with U.S. workers. A potential misalignment between re-skilled American workers and the Ph.D.-level demands of chip manufacturing, coupled with concerns about differing work ethics, adds layers of hesitancy among Taiwanese SMEs considering expansion in the U.S.<\/p>\nCulture and work ethic challenges in Arizona<\/h3>\n