The National Science Council yesterday approved six investment projects totalling NT$241.16 billion (US$7.56 billion), including the construction of 12-inch wafer fabs by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in a Taichung science park.
Officials at the Cabinet-level council said TSMC, the world's largest made-to-order chipmaker, will invest NT$240 billion for the fabs in the the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區). The new fabs will use 65-nanometer and 45-nanometer process technology in the production of microchips.
Construction of the fabs will start in June 2007, with commercial operation in August 2008, the council said, adding that TSMC also plans to further expand the fabs in 2011 and 2014 in a bid to maximize its monthly production to 105,000 wafers.
But TSMC spokesman Tseng Jinn-haw (曾晉皓) told the Taipei Times yesterday that the company's investment in the science park is to meet its medium to long-term goals.
"We will not start the Taichung fabs until after our Fab-12 in Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) and Fab-14 in Souther Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區) become fully loaded, and until our land at these two science parks are fully used," Tzeng said.
Aside from the TSMC investment, the council also approved proposals filed by seven high-tech firms in Hsinchu Science Park to boost their investment by NT$45.53 billion.
But the Hsinchu Science Park, cradle of the nation's high-tech ventures, saw its sales decline 15 percent to NT$446.2 billion in the first half of the year, compared to that in the same time period last year, due to the regressive performance of computer and peripheral products makers, whose sales dropped by 25 percent.
Still, Director-General of the Hsinchu Science Park Administration James Lee (李界木) said that investment from 58 potential investors might eventually bring in NT$8.4 billion to the park, reversing the recession.
"Due to potential investment in the park's base in Lungtan (龍潭), Taoyuan County, the park's annual sales this year might have about six percent growth than last year," Lee said.
The park's administration estimates that annual sales for the park might have increased to NT$1,15 trillion from NT$ 1.06 trillion last year.
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
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
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