Taiwan's top two chipmakers are expected to hit their stride in the middle of the second quarter and surge through the rest of the year, according to a report from Goldman Sachs.
The investment firm predicts that sales at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC,
Goldman analysts believe TSMC will likely announce similar agreements during an upcoming technology forum hosted by the company in mid-April.
STMicro and Philips are working with TSMC to develop a manufacturing process for making system-on-a-chip (SOC) semiconductors using 0.09 micron etching processes, far smaller than leading edge technology today.
SOCs incorporate the functions of two or more chips to save space and cut costs. They are expected to make a big splash in the PDA, mobile phone and Internet appliances markets.
TSMC expects to ramp production at 0.09 microns by the fourth quarter of this year and offer the technology to all its 500-plus clients.
"We believe a crucial element in TSMC's development effort at [0.09 micron] is that the technology will be standardized, whereas in the past TSMC had adapted its technology to meet varying requirements from different customers. For [0.09 micron], there will be only one technology offering so customers will have to design their products according to the TSMC standard," the Goldman Sachs report says.
The investment firm also said surging demand for chips from TSMC and United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) has sent prices higher and that companies have become so anxious to secure capacity at the firms that they have voluntarily given up discounts.
Executives at TSMC expect sales to rise by 30 percent this year as the economic recovery takes hold. At a technology forum hosted by Merrill Lynch earlier this month, the company also said it would likely to build more new semiconductor wafer fabs.
Originally, TSMC believed it would spend around US$1.6 billion on equipment for new production lines, but Goldman Sachs believes this figure could rise much higher. TSMC officials said they would make a firm announcement later this year.
UMC, TSMC's top competitor in the contract chipmaking business, is reportedly selling off manufacturing capacity for lower technology processes popular with Taiwanese chip-design firms.
Goldman believes this will result in these companies turning to TSMC if they cannot get their chips made on time, however, many of these firms, most notably, Mediatek Inc (
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last