The nation’s two top contract chipmakers expressed confidence about a planned surcharge on big water users, citing conservation measures the firms have taken over many years, they said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) said they have achieved positive results in managing risks to water resources.
UMC has developed conservation processes in addition to efficient use of water during production to keep consumption at a minimum.
TSMC has focused on recycling water in its production processes and for cooling, it said, adding that it now recycles about 85 percent of the wastewater its plants generate, saving more than 37 million cubic meters of water a year.
UMC said water recycling saves 24.91 million cubic meters a year.
Together, the Hsinchu-based firms conserve enough water to fill the Baoshan No. 2 Reservoir in Hsinchu almost twice. The reservoir has a storage capacity of 32.18 million cubic meters of water.
Flat-panel maker AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電) also recycles about 85 percent of its wastewater — a relatively high standard in the industry, it said.
The company said it was not worried about a potential surcharge.
“If the government implements a water surcharge, it will have no effect on our company,” AUO said.
AUO has put a high priority on the environment and is committed to conserving water, saving 13 million cubic meters a year through its recycling initiatives, it said.
To encourage water conservation, the Water Resources Agency plans to add a surcharge on users of more than 1,000 cubic meters of water a month, targeting factories that produce electronics, flat panels, petrochemicals or steel.
Carwash and spa operators, hotels and playgrounds that use over 1,000 cubic meters of water a month are also to pay the surcharge, but offices, schools, hospitals and collective housing units are to be exempt, officials said.
The plan would add surcharges of 10 percent on use between 1,000 and 3,000 cubic meters; 20 percent on use between 3,000 and 6,000 cubic meters; and 30 percent on water use above 6,000 cubic meters.
Agency officials estimate that there are 5,742 clients using more than 1,000 cubic meters of water per month who would be subject to the surcharge.
Though they account for less than 1 percent of all users in the nation, big water users consume about 725 million cubic meters of water a year — about 26.1 percent of all water used in Taiwan.
If implemented, the surcharges would take effect in 2017 at the earliest.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure