Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, plans to invest NT$400 billion (US$13.5 billion) to expand its Hsinchu production facility as it seeks to regain momentum amid a slowdown in the global smartphone market.
The plans are still in the preliminary stages, as the company still needs the government to help secure land and work on environmental assessments, TSMC spokeswoman Elizabeth Sun (孫又文) said by telephone.
Hsinchu serves as TSMC’s headquarters, a major production facility and includes its research and development center, where it builds the latest chip technology.
Photo: Hung Yu-fang, Taipei Times
While TSMC is expanding into new markets, such as components for cryptocurrency mining, it is confronting a slowdown in demand from smartphone vendors, including Apple Inc, as developed markets become saturated and replacement cycles lengthen.
The company last week forecast revenue for this quarter well short of analyst estimates, setting off a tumble in technology stocks around the world.
The potential investment is not included in the firm’s publicly disclosed plan for as much as US$12 billion of capital expenditure this year, but is incorporated in future projections, Sun said.
She declined to comment on the timeline for the project.
TSMC chief financial officer Lora Ho (何麗梅) has said capital expenditure for the next few years would be between US$10 billion to US$12 billion.
The company is the exclusive core processor provider for Apple’s latest iPhones. It also makes chips for other major tech companies, including Broadcom Inc, Nvidia Corp, Qualcomm Inc and Huawei Technologies Co (華為).
TSMC shares rose 0.68 percent to close at NT$223.5 in Taipei trading yesterday, paring this year’s decline to 2.61 percent.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique