Inside Look at TSMC’s Controversial “Liver Sales Culture” in Taiwan

TSMC. (Photo/Dazhi/Associated Press)

TSMC’s success in Taiwan through its “liver sales culture” is difficult to replicate overseas. company.

Recently the American non-profit media “Rest of World” ran the headline “TSMC has the worst working environment on earth” and said that most American workers are disappointed with TSMC’s corporate culture the worst work environment on earth.” The worst work environment on earth”.

According to the report, an employee named Bruce said that he was excited when he received the recruitment message from TSMC in 2020, but in the next two years, there was no work at TSMC as it was expected in 2021, he was working with more than 600 people An American worker went to the Tainan Fab 18 factory in Taiwan for a one-year training.

The training period in Taiwan usually lasts for a year or two and language barriers are like a nightmare for a company.

What Bruce is most dissatisfied with is the “smoothness” of his colleagues in Taiwan. They always stay late in the office for no reason. He also complained that the language problem he encountered in Taiwan was not resolved when he returned to the United States.

Bruce is not the only employee who is disappointed with TSMC’s US factory. The company’s culture and hierarchy are strict;

For example, some American workers complained that most of their supervisors assigned important tasks to Taiwanese workers; another ex-employee joked that the biggest skill they learned at TSMC was making PPT presentations, after they quit, Feeling relieved.

For Taiwanese engineers, they think their American colleagues are arrogant and undisciplined, and they always like to challenge orders “It’s hard to ask them to do things.” However, coming to Phoenix is ​​a rare opportunity to live the American dream. A Taiwanese engineer told “The Rest of the World” that it would be better to give birth to children in the United States “As American citizens, they will have more options (in life) than others.” The mainland of the United States is not suitable for island residents Taiwanese engineers He said that his wife described it as, “Good mountains, good water, so boring.”

In addition, Taiwanese management in the United States is often reminded not to casually ask employees why they are taking leave, or ask female job applicants their have children, some former employees revealed that the company once sent an internal email to remind employees Note that “that” in Chinese sounds a lot like the “N- word” (The N-Word, which stands for Nigger, is a derogatory term for African Americans).

The “Rest of World” report also mentioned that, according to TSMC insiders, the key to the company’s success lies in the “military” working environment. Engineers work 12 hours a day, sometimes taking a -in the weekends even Taiwanese reporters said that TSMC It is responsible for engineers with a “mind of slaves” and “willing to sell their liver” to work.

Engineers at TSMC’s US factory criticized “TSMC as having the worst work environment on earth” and were fed up with the smooth behavior of Taiwanese colleagues. (Photo/reproduced from X)