Taiwan Semiconductor Manufac-turing Co (TSMC,
The busy production lines at TSMC bode well for global technology firms because the Tai-wanese company is an industry bellwether, making a wide variety of chips for major corporations such as Motorola Corp and Texas Instruments Inc.
TSMC spokesman Chuck Byers said the company was using 105 percent of its chip-production capacity. This figure includes the capacity of TSMC and all its affiliates, like US-based subsidiary Wafertech LLC and Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (
Chipmakers are able to surpass a 100-percent utilization rate by tweaking equipment to make it more efficient, producing more chips than the gear was rated for.
"We're doing our best to meet everything that's needed," Byers said.
Analysts had anticipated that TSMC and other chip manufacturers might run short of production capacity in the second quarter as demand has spiked this year. The return to good times means companies requiring chip production may not be able to get everything they need because during the slowdown manufacturers cut back on the massive spending required for new chip production lines.
Byers said TSMC is "literally ramping as we speak" new production lines to help catch up with burgeoning demand. The company has forecast spending NT$66 billion (US$2 billion) on new production lines this year.
He said it should have output from its second advanced 12-inch chip plant by the fourth quarter.
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ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
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