Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC,
"TSMC announced it was migrating old eight-inch facilities to China, but now they have to re-evaluate that, as Chinese foundry suppliers -- say, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co (中芯國際集成電路) -- have been growing fast in the past two years," said Mario Morales, a vice president at market researcher International Data Corp (IDC) in Taipei.
Semiconductor Manufacturing plans to spend as much as TSMC -- US$2 billion -- on new equipment this year, which will help China's biggest foundry supplier to become the world's No.3 contracted chipmaker next year, outranking struggling Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd of Singapore, Morales said.
"You have to be aware the competitors are already thinking about 12-inch [fabs] ... They might be still behind, but they are catching up, and they are more aggressive in price," Morales said.
Hsinchu-based TSMC last month received government approval to relocate its idled 8-inch equipment to Shanghai.
The Chinese plant, which will cost TSMC US$898 million, is scheduled to start production by the end of this year. The Taiwanese government still restricts the migration of advanced processing technologies to China.
Apart from expanding capacity, Taiwanese companies should pool their intellectual property investments to safeguard their foundry dominance, Morales said.
China will become the world's second-largest semiconductor market by the end of the decade. Over the next five years to 2008, China's semiconductor market will grow at about 40 percent a year to US$43 billion, from US$17 billion last year, according to IDC's forecast.
The global semiconductor market is expected to increase at half that rate, to US$250 billion by 2008, driven mostly by demand for consumer electronics in Asian markets, the international research powerhouse said.
The global semiconductor industry will expand 21 percent to about US$200 billion this year, IDC said, adding that the industry is likely to suffer a downturn next year and in 2006 due to overcapacity.
However, not everyone agrees with the IDC's assessment.
Chris Hsieh (
What concerns foreign chipmakers is the value-added tax Beijing has imposed on foreign chipmakers, who seek cost savings by setting up plants in China, Hsieh added.
"It's takes time to migrate more advanced technologies to China. But it deserves more patience," Hsieh said.
TSMC chairman Morris Chang (
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
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
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