It would be “impossible” to move 40% of Taiwan’s semiconductor capacity to the U.S., the island’s top tariff negotiator said, pushing back against recent comments by American officials who called for a major production shift.
In an interview with Taiwanese television channel CTS that was broadcast late on Sunday, Taiwan Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun said she had made it clear to Washington that Taiwan’s semiconductor ecosystem, built up over decades, could not be relocated.
“I have made it very clear to the United States that this is impossible,” she said, referring to the 40% goal the U.S. has floated.
That ecosystem will continue to grow in Taiwan, Cheng said, adding that the semiconductor industry would keep investing at home.
No, it’s that companies aren’t willing to pay the salaries of engineers in the US. The US pumps out thousands of fresh engineers every year, but the starting salary of a new engineer in the US is $110k while the starting salary of new engineer in the UK is around $33k. In France it is closer to $75k.
And this isn’t isolated to engineering, either. In the TV industry, they are finding it is cheaper to fly game show contestants to London to shoot a 30 min game show than it is to shoot it in the US.