Contract chipmaker Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) yesterday finalized a NT$278 billion (US$9.03 billion) investment in new fabs, and aims to produce its first 28-nanometer chips in 2022 to tap into new markets such as genetic testing for diseases and emerging memory chips.
The figure is the third-highest in a spate of investments among the nation’s semiconductor companies, following Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) NT$600 billion outlay and Winbond Electronics Co’s (華邦電子) NT$335 billion investment earlier this year.
Powerchip, which is not listed on the local bourse, plans to build two new 12-inch plants at the Tongluo Industrial Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County with a combined capacity of 100,000 wafers a month, leveraging the nation’s extensive semiconductor supply chain.
The investment would create 2,700 jobs, the company said in a statement.
“We want to keep our most advanced technologies in Taiwan. The new Tongluo fabs will be used to develop and produce next-generation technologies,” Powerchip founder Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told a media briefing in Taipei.
“We plan to make biological chips, magnetoresistive random access memory [MRAM] and artificial intelligence technologies, and 12-inch MOSFETs, which are new to us. We have to build new capacities for those new technologies,” Huang said.
MOSFETs are transistors that can change conductivity with the amount of applied voltage and can be used to amplify or switch electronic signals.
MOSFET supply has been tight due to robust demand from new applications, such as electric vehicles and Internet of Things devices, Powerchip said.
The new fabs will give the firm an advantage in manufacturing costs, because most rivals make MOSFETs in less-advanced 8-inch fabs, the company added.
The use of MOSFETs in electric cars is expected to rise from 10 units to about 20 or 25 units, Huang said.
Powerchip said it is preparing for a share relaunch in 2020 to finance the construction of the new fabs.
The company would also seek other ways to raise funds, such as bank loans, to finance the new facilities and equipment.
Powerchip saw net profits soar 43 percent to NT$5.2 billion in the first half of this year, compared with NT$3.63 billion a year earlier, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
That translated into earnings of NT$2.17 per share in the first two quarters of this year, down from NT$1.52 a year earlier.
As of June 30, the chipmaker has booked NT8.22 billion in cash.
Revenue grew 18.74 percent to NT$26.36 billion in the first half from NT$22.2 billion a year earlier.
The chipmaker operates three 12-inch fabs and one 8-inch fab in Hsinchu and a 12-inch fab in Hefei, China, in a partnership with China’s biggest LCD panelmaker, BOE Technology Group (京東方).
The Chinese fab produces mainly driver integrated circuits for LCD panels.
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