On December 19, TSMC announced the retirement of chairman Mark Liu, but there has been increasing speculation that the chairman’s five-year tenure might have been ended forcibly (via Wealth Magazine). Taiwanese media voices theorize that Liu’s abrupt departure from the company is related to the construction delays for TSMC’s Arizona fab, which Liu spent much of 2023 trying to keep on track.

Retirement isn’t unusual for someone who’s been working for roughly forty years, but there are two main reasons why Liu’s retirement has stirred up speculation. The first is that it was very sudden; there was very little warning at all. Additionally, the press release surrounding his retirement came from TSMC and not Liu himself. By contrast, TSMC founder Morris Chang, who served as both chairman and CEO, announced his own retirement in 2018 and made his own statements.

According to industry rumors, the immediate cause for Liu’s removal was problems surrounding Fab 21. The construction for Fab 21 in Arizona has been troubled since it began in April 2021, and chairman Liu blamed local Arizonan workers for the delays. His solution to get Fab 21 back on track was to send experienced TSMC workers from Taiwan, but this only angered the locals and unions. Eventually, the chairman backtracked on his comments about American workers and made concessions to the unions to end the conflict that had started half a year ago.