Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), the world's biggest chip packager, and three other local firms yesterday obtained the government's approval to invest a total of US$99.6 million in China.
The decision marks the latest batch of local semiconductor companies to get a green light for investing in China, six months after the government gave the go-ahead to ASE and two local computer memory chipmakers, including Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (
ASE received the go-ahead for its plans to spend US$21.6 million to form a joint venture with NXP Semiconductors, which operates a factory in Suzhou, China. ASE plans to open the factory this quarter, as an addition to its first Chinese operation, Global Advanced Packaging Technology Ltd (
Late last year, the government lifted the ban on local chip testing and packaging service providers to offer services for low-end technologies in China after prolonged evaluation.
Lagging behind ASE on the Chinese market, Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密), the nation's second-biggest chip tester and packager, yesterday was also granted approval to invest US$30 million in its first Chinese project.
Greatek Electronics Inc
The four companies promised to invest NT$75 billion (US$2.28 billion) in Taiwan in three years.
China's semiconductor market is expected to expand by a compounded annual growth rate of 10.5 percent to US$122 billion in 2011, market research firm Gartner Inc forecast.
Investors reacted positively to the news, driving shares of the four semiconductor companies up by between 1.47 percent and 5.54 percent yesterday, compared with a 0.55 percent increase on the benchmark index.
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”