Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, booked losses of NT$2.6 billion (US$84.29 million) after a computer virus affected operations in August, a financial statement submitted on Tuesday to the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed.
The shortfall was much less than company estimates of US$253.5 million to US$256.5 million.
On Aug. 5, TSMC said that the virus might take away 3 percent of its third-quarter revenue, with an estimate of US$NT$8.45 billion to US$8.55 billion.
WannaCry, a worm that is known for its ability to spread rapidly, infected some of TSMC’s fab tools, including the most advanced 7-nanometer equipment, via the company’s private network on Aug. 3, it said.
The affected tools were recovered by Aug. 6, the company said.
TSMC said it booked most of the damage in its third-quarter financial statement.
The impact would be minor this quarter, as the company has recovered most delayed wafer shipments, it said.
To prevent similar incidents, the chipmaker has implemented an automated system to guarantee foolproof execution, TSMC president Wei Che-chia (魏哲家) said last month.
The company also enhanced firewall control for fab isolation and improved the network control of each computer, Wei said.
More enhancements are to be implemented to further improve tool immunity against viruses, he said.
In its financial statement, TSMC said that it was contacted on Sept. 28 last year by the European Commission to provide information and documents concerning alleged anti-competitive practices in relation to semiconductor sales.
As the proceedings are still in a preliminary stage, it is premature to predict how the case would proceed, its outcomes or its effect, the company said.
Meanwhile, TSMC said it has also entered into long-term purchase agreements for silicon wafers with multiple suppliers to secure sufficient supply amid supply constraints.
RECYCLE: Taiwan would aid manufacturers in refining rare earths from discarded appliances, which would fit the nation’s circular economy goals, minister Kung said Taiwan would work with the US and Japan on a proposed cooperation initiative in response to Beijing’s newly announced rare earth export curbs, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday. China last week announced new restrictions requiring companies to obtain export licenses if their products contain more than 0.1 percent of Chinese-origin rare earths by value. US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent on Wednesday responded by saying that Beijing was “unreliable” in its rare earths exports, adding that the US would “neither be commanded, nor controlled” by China, several media outlets reported. Japanese Minister of Finance Katsunobu Kato yesterday also
Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), founder and CEO of US-based artificial intelligence chip designer Nvidia Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) on Friday celebrated the first Nvidia Blackwell wafer produced on US soil. Huang visited TSMC’s advanced wafer fab in the US state of Arizona and joined the Taiwanese chipmaker’s executives to witness the efforts to “build the infrastructure that powers the world’s AI factories, right here in America,” Nvidia said in a statement. At the event, Huang joined Y.L. Wang (王英郎), vice president of operations at TSMC, in signing their names on the Blackwell wafer to
‘DRAMATIC AND POSITIVE’: AI growth would be better than it previously forecast and would stay robust even if the Chinese market became inaccessible for customers, it said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday raised its full-year revenue growth outlook after posting record profit for last quarter, despite growing market concern about an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble. The company said it expects revenue to expand about 35 percent year-on-year, driven mainly by faster-than-expected demand for leading-edge chips for AI applications. The world’s biggest contract chipmaker in July projected that revenue this year would expand about 30 percent in US dollar terms. The company also slightly hiked its capital expenditure for this year to US$40 billion to US$42 billion, compared with US$38 billion to US$42 billion it set previously. “AI demand actually
RARE EARTHS: The call between the US Treasury Secretary and his Chinese counterpart came as Washington sought to rally G7 partners in response to China’s export controls China and the US on Saturday agreed to conduct another round of trade negotiations in the coming week, as the world’s two biggest economies seek to avoid another damaging tit-for-tat tariff battle. Beijing last week announced sweeping controls on the critical rare earths industry, prompting US President Donald Trump to threaten 100 percent tariffs on imports from China in retaliation. Trump had also threatened to cancel his expected meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea later this month on the sidelines of the APEC summit. In the latest indication of efforts to resolve their dispute, Chinese state media reported that
RSS