Local chipmakers and LCD panelmakers are seeking alternative water sources — including hiring water trucks to transport water from remote areas — to brace for more stringent water restrictions as the nation’s most severe water shortage in 67 years deepens.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday decided to implement stricter water rationing in some major industrial parks in Taoyuan, New Taipei City’s (新北市) Linkou District (林口) and Miaoli County.
Industrial users in those areas will face cutbacks in their water supply of 10 percent from next month, up from the current 7.5 percent.
Semiconductor companies and LCD manufacturers are among the biggest water consumers in the nation.
Innolux Corp (群創), which operates 14 LCD manufacturing plants, including the most advanced 8.5-generation plant in Miaoli, said the third-phase water restriction measures could have a significant impact on its production lines.
The company plans to get additional water supplies from recycled water stored in the factory and an adjacent water storage tank in the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區).
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), the nation’s biggest DRAM chipmaker, based in Linkou, said the latest water restrictions would not affect its production in the short term, thanks to its well-equipped water storage system.
Companies operating factories in the Hsinchu Science Park will not face a major impact from the new restrictions, as water supply to heavy industrial users will be reduced by 7.5 percent, compared with the current 5 percent.
“At this stage, we do not see [the restrictions having] any impact,” United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) chief financial executive Liu Chitung (劉啟東) said by telephone.
UMC is the nation’s second-biggest contract chipmaker.
“The company is ready with backup water supply plans such as transporting water by water trucks from other areas,” Liu said.
Hsinchu-based AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電), the nation’s second-largest panelmaker also said it would hire water trucks if the situation worsens.
In the meantime, AUO is to use its own water storage tank to offset the reduced supply, the firm said.
The company also said its water consumption has been dropping, as its water recycling ratio at its advanced plants is set to reach 90 percent by the end of the year, while the one at Taoyuan’s Longtan (龍潭) is set to reach 100 percent.
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last