Arizona's Taiwanese chipmakers like the life -- but think schools are too lax

Taiwanese engineers' children are enjoying school in Arizona, but it sure is easy, writes Dan Wang in a New York Times commentary.

A TSMC intern helps Phoenix Boys' and Girls' Club members at the Arizona Science Center.

TSMC, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, is building a microchip facility in north Phoenix, part of an investment that will total more than a quarter of a trillion dollars, writes Wang. Thousands of Taiwanese engineers have come on three-year visas to train Americans in complex manufacturing skills.

TSMC engineers and their families "marveled at their new lives in the Sun Belt — the large homes, the friendly community, the opportunities for their kids," he writes. Parents want their children to go to American universities, but worry they won't be prepared.

Teenagers told Wang that high school classes are much easier than in Taiwan, despite the challenge of learning in English. In particular, "math and science classes are a breeze."

Parents, used to paying for extra tutoring in Taiwan, are "nonplussed that teachers sometimes wave off assigning homework to high school seniors; some schools allow seniors to take Friday afternoons off."

"Arizona’s public schools rank among the lowest in the country for graduation rates and the third-lowest in spending per pupil," writes Wang.

Some of the engineers will return home after three years, Wang writes, but others "want to build lives in the United States" to give their children a better future or because they like the American lifestyle. There are legal pathways for TSMC employees to pursue, he writes. About 300 children have been born in Arizona to the Taiwanese engineers so far.

Chandler, Arizona high school students at the University of Arizona's "Chips and Wafers" summer camp.

In theory, Americans will learn the manufacturing skills lost when chip production moved overseas. TSMC Arizona isn't supposed to depend on imported engineers forever.

Arizona is trying to develop high-tech talent. The University of Arizona's Center for Semiconductor Manufacturing offers education and training at the high school, undergraduate and graduate level.

Arizona State and Intel hosted an AI and Semiconductor Summer Institute to introduce high school STEM teachers to job opportunities for students. Adam Middleton is teaching a new course on advanced manufacturing at his Mesa high school's Innovation and Design Academy, he told Taylor Griffith of KJZZ. “I was really excited to learn more from some industry experts, from some higher education experts on what exactly the semiconductor field is like right now in Arizona,” Middleton said. He'll tell students about the "huge industry opening up here in their backyard.”