In a setback to the White House’s ambitions for advancing the technology infrastructure within the United States, chip manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) has announced it will be delaying the start of production at its new manufacturing facility in Arizona.

The facility had been planning to begin production next year, however the firm now says it will not be able to adhere to that timeline due to an inability to find skilled workers within the United States capable of standing up the facility.

The facility was part of the Biden administration’s plans to bring chip production to the United States, as tensions heat up with China over access to advanced technologies. Those tensions have manifested in an ongoing trade dispute which has seen both sides wielding export restrictions to limit the other’s access to critical materials or technologies.

TSMC Chairman Mark Liu announced that the company was now expecting production of advanced microprocessors at the Arizona facility to begin in 2025.

In the course of an earnings presentation, Mr Liu said that the facility was facing a shortage of workers with the, “specialized expertise required for equipment installation in a semiconductor-grade facility.”

He said that TSMC was, “working to improve the situation, including sending experienced technicians from Taiwan to train the local skilled workers [in the US] for a short period of time.”

He noted the company was expecting to see a 10% fall in sales this year due to reduced demand for semiconductors.

He also noted that profits fell by around 23% year over year to 181.8 billion Taiwanese dollars ($5.8 billion) in the second quarter.

The Arizona facility has been under construction since April 2021, with the first announcement of its planned construction being made in 2020, when Donald Trump was President.

The company had announced last year that it was planning to more that triple the investment in the project, to $40 billion. It will be one of the largest foreign investments in the history of America.

Mr Liu said at the time that it was expected the first of the two semiconductor facilities being planned at the Arizona plant would become operational by 2024, and the second facility would come online by 2026.

Currently the Unites States produces abut 10% of the world’s supply of semiconductor chips, which are used in everything from cars, to dishwashers, to mobile phones. It is a substantial decline from the time when in 1990, the United States produced nearly 40% of the global supply of chips.

President Biden signed a bill last year which committed $280 billion to expanding high tech manufacturing and scientific research in the US.

The bill included tax breaks for building computer chip manufacturing facilities in the US.