TSMC began work on a first factory in Arizona in 2021, but appears to be having a few nightmares in getting set up.

After running operations in Taiwan it is used to have its workers arrived highly competent and happy to work themselves to death in plants many westerners will not go near. So imagine its surprise when the Arizona plant’s safety concerns were questioned, the government wanted taxation, and US staff were not used to the galley slave approach.

The company announced that it was sending more Taiwanese workers to the US to manage the final stages of making the plant operational. Now according to Nikkei Asia, that move has proven insufficient.

TSMC chair Mark Liu admitted that the outfit was encountering challenges, as there was an insufficient amount of skilled workers with the specialised expertise required for equipment installation in a semiconductor-grade facility.

"We expect the production schedule of N4 [4-nanometer] process technology to be pushed out to 2025," continued Liu.