As the US pushes for manufacturing repatriation, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is grappling with unexpected challenges in building a massive chip factory in the desert north of Phoenix, Arizona. Unlike Taiwan's single-permit process, the US's complex regulatory maze requires the firm to create around 18,000 rules from scratch, costing US$35 million. TSMC chairman C.C. Wei says this is no longer just a business investment but an expensive social experiment in transplanting industrial culture.
Following former US President Donald Trump's revival of sweeping tariff threats and declaration of "Liberation Day," he vowed to restore factories to American soil, evoking an intoxicating vision of "Made in America" reborn: new plants rising, assembly lines humming, and blue-collar workers reclaiming dignity amid the roar of machines.
But the first global heavyweight to truly test that promise, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), has found the reality far less romantic. In the desert north of Phoenix, Arizona, TSMC is building a vast manufacturing complex larger than New York’s Central Park. Heat and aridity are only part of the challenge. More daunting is the maze of unfamiliar rules and approvals.
Projects that could be launched in Taiwan once a single key permit was secured now require negotiations with municipal, county, state, and federal authorities. TSMC chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei has said the company had to establish around 18,000 rules from scratch, at a cost of US$35 million.
This is no longer just a business investment. It resembles a large and expensive social experiment, asking what happens when a highly mature industrial culture is transplanted into a very different institutional and social ecosystem. The US has only recently begun to build mega-factories after decades of decline. To get its intricate chipmaking operations running, TSMC has had to bring in experienced engineers and technicians from Taiwan. For their families, it means a major change in lifestyle. For local communities, it has become an uneasy process of cultural adjustment.
The piece notes that while many have soured on globalisation, protectionism has also failed to guarantee people’s desire for affordability and financial security. As the US struggles with affordability, consumer confidence eludes China.
