Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC,
The company has asked the government for final approval, said a Taiwan Semiconductor spokesman, Tzeng Jinnhaw (曾晉皓).
Tzeng made the remarks after several Chinese-language newspapers reported yesterday that TSMC has submitted an application to the government for a second-stage screening procedure to relocate an idle 8-inch plant to China, citing TSMC president Rick Tsai (
The company in January last year obtained preliminary approval by the government of its plan to move the equipment to China, and was allowed to channel about US$898 million there to fund its Chinese unit.
Tsai said up to 40 Chinese engineers are currently in Taiwan for a four-month to six-month training session. Following the training, the engineers will work in the Shanghai suburb of Songjiang.
Major construction at the factory is nearly complete, with dust-free rooms now under construction, according to the reports.
If the government approves the company's application by the end of the second-quarter, Tzeng said the company is confident it will start chip production at the Songjiang factory on schedule.
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MAJOR BENEFICIARY: The company benefits from TSMC’s advanced packaging scarcity, given robust demand for Nvidia AI chips, analysts said ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packaging and testing service provider, yesterday said it is raising its equipment capital expenditure budget by 10 percent this year to expand leading-edge and advanced packing and testing capacity amid strong artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing chip demand. This is on top of the 40 to 50 percent annual increase in its capital spending budget to more than the US$1.7 billion to announced in February. About half of the equipment capital expenditure would be spent on leading-edge and advanced packaging and testing technology, the company said. ASE is considered by analysts