Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said its board had approved a plan to spend as much as US$126 million to acquire Taiwan OmniVision Investment Holding Co Ltd and a 49 percent stake in VisEra Holding Cayman Ltd, both local subsidiaries of OmniVision Technologies Inc
The world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement that the acquisitions are conditional on regulatory approval from related governments, including the US approving a Chinese consortium’s acquisition of OmniVision Technologies, which is based in Santa Clara, California.
TSMC supplies microprocessors for Apple Inc’s iPhone. The company’s proposed purchase of OmniVision Technologies’ local subsidiaries is to help clear a regulatory hurdle for a group of Chinese investors to acquire the firm, as Chinese firms are not permitted to operate semiconductor businesses in Taiwan.
OmniVision Technologies — which provided the rear camera sensor for Apple’s iPhone 4S — in April agreed to a US$1.9 billion acquisition by a Chinese conglomerate that includes Hua Capital Management Co (華資本管理公司), Citi Capital Holdings Ltd (中信資本) and GoldStone Investment Co (金石投資).
TSMC’s proposed deal would allow the Hsinchu-based chipmaker to increase its stake in VisEra Holding to 98.2 percent. VisEra Holding was established as a joint venture between TSMC and OmniVision Technologies.
TSMC’s board yesterday also gave the go-ahead for capital appropriations of roughly US$1.24 billion to expand capacity for advanced technology and packaging and assembly. The capital expenditures are also to cover certain logic capacity and specialty technology spending this quarter, as well as research and development costs.
TSMC plans to spend between US$10.5 billion and US$11 billion on capital expenditure this year, mostly on advanced technologies.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS