Taiwan Semiconductor Manufac-turing Co (TSMC, 台積電) expects to be the world's biggest producer of semiconductors within two years, a company official was cited by a newspaper as saying yesterday.
TSMC, the world's largest maker of chips for other companies, claimed a 5.2 percent share of the world's semiconductor production capacity last year, compared with 6.1 percent posted by Hynix Semiconductor Inc and 5.1 percent of Intel Corp, TSMC North American president Edward Ross said.
Ross said TSMC is expected to raise its total monthly capacity to 381,000 eight-inch equivalent wafers by the end of the year from 332,000 at the end of March.
In response to customer demand, TSMC is also set to accelerate its capacity expansion for 12-inch wafer production, he said.
While its first 12-inch wafer plant is set to expand its capacity to 13,000 from 4,000, TSMC's second 12-inch wafer fabrication at the Tainan Science-based Industrial Park (台南科學園區) is scheduled to start installing equipment in the second half of the year, he added.
TSMC, which specializes in manufacturing so its customers can focus on designing new chips, is benefiting this year from increased outsourcing by companies like Motorola Inc, nVidia Corp, and Conexant, which do not want to build expensive, new production facilities. A new 12-inch wafer fab can cost up to US$3.5 billion.
According to TSMC president Rick Tsai (蔡力行), the company increased spending on new plants and equipment earlier this year to US$2.5 billion in order to meet demand for production on 12-inch wafers, which reduce costs by as much as a third. Tsai said TSMC will grow fast over the next four years.
"Our total manufacturing capacity is expected to nearly double to 8 million wafers by the end of 2006, allowing us to easily satisfy the immediate and future needs of Motorola and all of our foundry customers around the globe," he said.
Earlier this week, the company reported its net sales for June totaled NT$15.62 billion, up 83.4 percent from the same period last year, while revenues from January to June were NT$79.97 billion, up 21.5 percent from a year ago.
TSMC spokesman Harvey Chang (張孝威) said in a statement that the company's sales continued to trend upward in June.
In addition, the company's wafer shipments in the second quarter of 2002 grew 20.1 percent compared to the first quarter, and net sales for the second quarter were NT$44.18 billion, approximately a 23.4 percent increase in comparison with NT$35.79 billion for the first quarter, Chang said.
Chairman Morris Chang (張忠謀) told institutional investors at the company's annual general meeting last month that the chipmaker expects its sales to exceed the 12 percent growth estimated for the global chip industry this year.
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