TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Taiwanese community has sprung up in Phoenix, Arizona, two years after TSMC began construction.
Approximately 2,200 Taiwanese employees have moved to the southwest state. Virtually devoid of Asian grocery stores before the chipmaker’s arrival, Taiwanese businesses now dot Phoenix’s northside strip mall, per the New York Times.
Supermarkets have started stocking Taiwanese food, the report said. Mandarin could also be heard at daycare centers and schools.
The growth has caused a demographic shift. Real estate developers are converting a mall into an Asian shopping center while other developers plan to build Taiwanese-style townhouses near the fab. Even one TSMC employee's wife has opened up a boba tea shop.
Wen Chang, a Taiwanese restaurateur who moved from New Mexico to Arizona, said the changes happened quickly. He owns Taiwan Bistro, a stir-fry restaurant 15 minutes by car from the plant.
After work, Chang’s restaurant is filled with Taiwanese patrons singing karaoke and TSMC employees introducing Taiwanese dishes to their American coworkers.
“They say it feels like home, like a community center,” Chang said. “In America, you don’t have this kind of Taiwanese food culture and lifestyle. Many people find life quite dull.”
Taiwanese workers and their families said they uprooted their lives for new experiences, including better pay and English education for their children.
The workers said their main concern was spending long days at work to bring the fab online. At the same time, they and their families are adjusting to life in the US, including large freeways, the desert heat, and being miles from home.
Katie Wang, who moved to Phoenix with her husband and children in 2022, said as long as one has thick skin, problems would be minimal.
Although the new Taiwanese families have struggled with different traffic rules and lack of national health care, they said they felt welcome in the US.
TSMC announced its plans to invest US$12 billion (NT$393.9 billion) in Phoenix in 2020. However, cultural and communication differences have frustrated Taiwanese and American employees.
US workers are not used to the company’s demanding workplace culture and long hours, TSMC employees said.
In August, labor unions filed a lawsuit accusing TSMC of “anti-American culture.” The company declined to comment but said it believes in a diverse workforce and provided communication channels for concerns.
The chipmaker said its first Arizona factory will start production in 2025. Two more fabs are in the pipeline to produce advanced chips for AI and defense.
