Taiwan Semiconductor Manufact-uring Co (TSMC,
TSMC's recent involvement in the personnel change at Vanguard, which is 27 percent owned by TSMC, came unexpectedly and has prompted speculation that the chipmaker could merge with Vanguard to cope with growing demand for chips made at less advanced 8-inch factories.
But the world's biggest contract chipmaker said it has no such plan. TSMC's move comes just after a personnel shakeup at Vanguard. Former Vanguard chairman Paul Chien (
"Vanguard is one of TSMC's major investments," said TSMC spokesperson Lora Ho (
Hsinchu-based Vanguard used to make chips for TSMC primarily on a contract basis, but the company has diversified considerably in recent years.
Early this month, Vanguard's two major shareholders, TSMC and the Cabinet's Development Fund, nominated nine board members including former minister of finance Lin Chuan (
Hsu's nomination will be put to the annual shareholder's meeting scheduled for today. The new board will then officially appoint Hsu as Chien's successor.
Hsu previously served as a research and development director at Samsung Electronics Co, vice president of Hualon Microelectronics (
He is also familiar with Vanguard, having served as its vice president from 1997 to 2000.
"TSMC's latest move has prompted speculation about a merger between TSMC and Vanguard," said Wang Bou-li (
Except for the prospect of a merger between the two chipmakers, industry watchers were not concerned about Vanguard's personnel change, Wang said, adding that they cared more about the fundamentals.
Meanwhile, TSMC said yesterday that its unconsolidated sales last month jumped almost 44 percent to NT$27.16 billion (US$866.7 million) from a year earlier. Last month's sales were up about 0.2 percent, NT$27.11 billion, on March.
In the first four months of this year, TSMC's sales totalled NT$104.46 billion, up 40 percent from NT$74.56 billion in the same period last year, the company said in a statement.
Rival United Microelectronics Corp (
HORMUZ ISSUE: The US president said he expected crude prices to drop at the end of the war, which he called a ‘minor excursion’ that could continue ‘for a little while’ The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait started reducing oil production, as the near-closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz ripples through energy markets and affects global supply. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is “managing offshore production levels to address storage requirements,” the company said in a statement, without giving details. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said it was lowering production at its oil fields and refineries after “Iranian threats against safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” The war in the Middle East has all but closed Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open seas,
Taiwan has enough crude oil reserves for more than 100 days and sufficient natural gas reserves for more than 11 days, both above the regulatory safety requirement, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, adding that the government would prioritize domestic price stability as conflicts in the Middle East continue. Overall, energy supply for this month is secure, and the government is continuing efforts to ensure sufficient supply for next month, Kung told reporters after meeting with representatives from business groups at the ministry in Taipei. The ministry has been holding daily cross-ministry meetings at the Executive Yuan to ensure
RATIONING: The proposal would give the Trump administration ample leverage to negotiate investments in the US as it decides how many chips to give each country US officials are debating a new regulatory framework for exporting artificial intelligence (AI) chips and are considering requiring foreign nations to invest in US AI data centers or security guarantees as a condition for granting exports of 200,000 chips or more, according to a document seen by Reuters. The rules are not yet final and could change. They would be the first attempt to regulate the flow of AI chips to US allies and partners since US President Donald Trump’s administration said it rescinded its predecessor’s so-called AI diffusion rules. Those rules sought to keep a significant amount of AI
A new worry has been rippling across the stock market lately: Entire businesses, not just their employees, might be thrown out of work. While most economists say fears of an artificial intelligence (AI) job apocalypse are overblown, seismic shifts have happened in the past after big tech breakthroughs. The IT revolution of the 1990s led to a surge in productivity that sped up the US economy for several years. It also rendered companies or even industries largely redundant — from travel agents and stockbrokers to classified advertising and newspapers, or video rental stores. Economists expect AI would deliver higher productivity,
RSS