Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (
The company plans to produce 35,000 12-inch wafers a month, up from 15,000 at present, spokesman Eric Tang (譚仲民) said in a phone interview. Hsinchu, Taiwan-based Powerchip, which is building a second 12-inch wafer plant with a projected capacity of 40,000 wafers, has a budget of NT$15 billion to NT$18 billion for this year, depending on its equipment payment schedule, he said.
The dinner-plate sized wafers yield more than double the number of chips that can be cut from a standard 8-inch disk, reducing production costs.
Powerchip had its first profit in five quarters after sales almost tripled and the company cut costs by shrinking its chips and using the bigger wafers.
"The cost benefits are starting to show up in the company's results, so the expansion plans will give it a chance to become a leading chipmaker on the island," said Jonah Chen, an analyst at Taipei-based Yuanta Core Pacific Securities Co (
Powerchip turned to third-quarter net income of NT$1.3 billion from a loss of NT$1.1 billion a year ago. In September, the company raised US$205 million selling new shares and bonds convertible into its stock to overseas investors.
Powerchip, which plans to build an 8-inch wafer plant in China, has yet to set a timeframe and work out the cost, Tang said.
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
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six