TSMC eyes Hynix facilities
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufactu-ring Co (TSMC, 台積電) may be in talks to buy production facilities from South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor Inc for approximately US$1 billion, CLSA Asia Pacific Markets reported, without citing a source.
TSMC could buy manufacturing lines that make chips from wafers measuring 8 inches in diameter, CLSA analysts, including Taipei-based Cheng Ming-kai (鄭名凱), wrote in a report dated Sunday. The facilities, which could add 129,000 wafers a month, could be converted to make logic chips from memory chips, Cheng wrote.
Tzeng Jinnhaw (曾晉皓), a spokesman at Hsinchu-based TSMC, the world's largest custom chipmaker, said the company had been looking to buy 8-inch manufacturing equipment, declining to confirm the company's interest in Hynix's facilities.
TSMC could generate a 30 percent return on the investment, the report said.
Temporary refinery shutdown
CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油), the nation's state-owned oil refiner, will shut a crude distillation unit at its Taoyuan refinery in the middle of October for maintenance.
The outage will last about 30 days, said a company official, who asked not to be identified because of company policy. The refinery has two such facilities and each unit is able to process 100,000 barrels of crude a day.
The Taoyuan refinery typically conducts maintenance during the northern hemisphere winter, when northeast winds make docking difficult for oil tankers, the official said.
Asustek predicts rising revenues
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), the world's largest maker of boards connecting computer parts, forecast revenues would rise 35 percent this year, driven by sales of notebook computers.
Sales are expected to reach US$23 billion this year, Benson Lin (林宗樑), the Taipei-based company's Asia-Pacific general manager, said yesterday.
Analysts project revenue will climb to NT$794 billion (US$24 billion) this year after climbing 45 percent to a record NT$560 billion last year, the average of 20 estimates compiled by Bloomberg showed.
Asustek, which makes computers for Apple Inc and game consoles for Sony Corp, will sell more products under its own Asus brand to increase profitability. Shipments of Asus-branded notebook computers will exceed 4 million this year after they jumped 78 percent to 2.7 million last year, Lin said.
Chinatrust rating reaffirmed
Taiwan Ratings Services and Fitch Ratings yesterday reaffirmed their ratings on Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控) and its banking arm after it acquired the financially fragile Enterprise Bank of Hualien (花蓮企銀) last week.
The assets of Hualien Bank under government supervision constituted 1.6 percent of Chinatrust Commercial Bank's (中國信託商銀) total assets as of March. Chinatrust Commercial should be able to absorb the acquisition risks, given the parent group's sound financial profile and its past track record of managing acquisitions, Taiwan Ratings said.
Chinatrust Commercial outbid four rivals in a government-held auction to buy the bank with an offer of the lowest bid worth NT$4.49 billion (US$135.5 million) last Thursday, the amount the government's financial restructuring fund needs to pay out to the winning bidder to help absorb the Hualien lender, including its bad loans.
NT gains on greenback
The New Taiwan dollar gained NT$0.004 to close at NT$33.005 against the US dollar. Turnover was US$940 million.
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
Taiwan will prioritize the development of silicon photonics by taking advantage of its strength in the semiconductor industry to build another shield to protect the local economy, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said yesterday. Speaking at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee, Liu said Taiwan already has the artificial intelligence (AI) industry as a shield, after the semiconductor industry, to safeguard the country, and is looking at new unique fields to build more economic shields. While Taiwan will further strengthen its existing shields, over the longer term, the country is determined to focus on such potential segments as
TAKING STOCK: A Taiwanese cookware firm in Vietnam urged customers to assess inventory or place orders early so shipments can reach the US while tariffs are paused Taiwanese businesses in Vietnam are exploring alternatives after the White House imposed a 46 percent import duty on Vietnamese goods, following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on the US’ trading partners. Lo Shih-liang (羅世良), chairman of Brico Industry Co (裕茂工業), a Taiwanese company that manufactures cast iron cookware and stove components in Vietnam, said that more than 40 percent of his business was tied to the US market, describing the constant US policy shifts as an emotional roller coaster. “I work during the day and stay up all night watching the news. I’ve been following US news until 3am
COLLABORATION: Given Taiwan’s key position in global supply chains, the US firm is discussing strategies with local partners and clients to deal with global uncertainties Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday said it is meeting with local ecosystem partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to discuss strategies, including long-term manufacturing, to navigate uncertainties such as US tariffs, as Taiwan occupies an important position in global supply chains. AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) told reporters that Taiwan is an important part of the chip designer’s ecosystem and she is discussing with partners and customers in Taiwan to forge strong collaborations on different areas during this critical period. AMD has just become the first artificial-intelligence (AI) server chip customer of TSMC to utilize its advanced