The government has decided to requisition 3 million N95 masks per month — the nation’s total monthly output — to ensure a stable supply for medical workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Ministry of Economic Affairs official said yesterday.
On average, medical workers in Taiwan use 30,000 to 40,000 N95 masks a day, and there are no worries at present about a shortage of supply, the official, who declined to be named, told the Central News Agency.
However, the government decided to go ahead and requisition the masks — 1.5 million every two weeks — on advice from the Centers for Disease Control to ensure the safety of medical personnel, the official said, without giving further details.
The four local companies capable of producing N95 masks have a combined capacity of 100,000 to 105,000 per day, the official said.
That capacity is projected to rise by about 20,000 units per day when one of the companies adds new production lines by the end of this month, the official said.
The government first requisitioned N95 masks, which can filter out at least 95 percent of airborne particles, on Feb. 6, according to a local mask supplier, and planned to requisition 2.1 million of them from Feb. 17 to March 17.
The N95 masks are more time-consuming to make than the regular masks that are widely used by most workers and other people.
Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) on Monday told reporters that N95 masks require four times the amount of melt-blown nonwoven fabric needed for a standard mask, of which Taiwan now produces 15 million a day.
Although enough of the raw material exists to produce both types of masks in their current quantities, Shen said the ministry would adjust the output of the masks based on the progression of the pandemic should the demand for N95 masks or regular masks rise sharply.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) investment project in Arizona has progressed better than expected, but it still faces challenges such as water and labor shortages, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Yeh Chun-hsien (葉俊顯) said yesterday. Speaking with reporters after visiting TSMC’s Arizona hub and attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit in Maryland last week, Yeh said TSMC’s Arizona site turned a profit of NT$16.14 billion (US$514 million) last year in its first full year of mass production. “TSMC told me it was surprised by the smooth trial run of the first fab, which has left the company optimistic about the project’s outlook,”
RSS