Apple Inc is planning to expand its investment in Taiwan by building a new plant in the Longtan (龍潭) section of Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), the Hsinchu Science Park Bureau said yesterday.
The administration on Feb. 18 approved a plan by Apple’s Taiwan branch to set up a new plant in Longtan, Taoyuan, where the US firm has its existing operations, according to company registration data obtained by the Central News Agency.
Chang Shih-chang (張世昌), a former executive at TPO Displays Corp (統寶光電), is expected to take charge of the new Apple plant.
TPO Displays was acquired by panel maker Innolux Corp (群創光電) in 2010.
Sources with knowledge of the plan said that the new plant would be built on a 30.83 hectare plot as part of the second phase of the Longtan section of the park.
While sources at the administration declined to disclose any financial terms or details about the plan, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News yesterday reported that the investment is expected to be about NT$10 billion (US$334.9 million).
The report said that the initial phase of the plan is to boost next-generation monitor production, as well as research and development (R&D) of monitor technologies.
The US firm is developing low-temperature polysilicon displays and metal-oxide-semiconductor screens at the park, along with quantum film image sensors, sources at the science park said.
The report cited unnamed sources as saying that the plant has been listed as a major project by Apple and that the US company has dispatched an R&D team to Taiwan to facilitate the investment.
Apple is planning to collaborate with LED lighting maker Epistar Corp (晶電) and panel maker AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) on monitor development to reduce the US company’s dependence on Japanese and South Korean suppliers, the report said.
Apple has been running a laboratory in Longtan since 2014 and with the new investment, the company is aiming to produce mini-LED and micro-LED displays, it said.
The Longtan plant is expected to become Apple’s third overseas R&D hub after Japan and South Korea, it added.
SEMICONDUCTOR SERVICES: A company executive said that Taiwanese firms must think about how to participate in global supply chains and lift their competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it expects to launch its first multifunctional service center in Pingtung County in the middle of 2027, in a bid to foster a resilient high-tech facility construction ecosystem. TSMC broached the idea of creating a center two or three years ago when it started building new manufacturing capacity in the US and Japan, the company said. The center, dubbed an “ecosystem park,” would assist local manufacturing facility construction partners to upgrade their capabilities and secure more deals from other global chipmakers such as Intel Corp, Micron Technology Inc and Infineon Technologies AG, TSMC said. It
EXPORT GROWTH: The AI boom has shortened chip cycles to just one year, putting pressure on chipmakers to accelerate development and expand packaging capacity Developing a localized supply chain for advanced packaging equipment is critical for keeping pace with customers’ increasingly shrinking time-to-market cycles for new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said yesterday. Spurred on by the AI revolution, customers are accelerating product upgrades to nearly every year, compared with the two to three-year development cadence in the past, TSMC vice president of advanced packaging technology and service Jun He (何軍) said at a 3D IC Global Summit organized by SEMI in Taipei. These shortened cycles put heavy pressure on chipmakers, as the entire process — from chip design to mass
Germany is to establish its first-ever national pavilion at Semicon Taiwan, which starts tomorrow in Taipei, as the country looks to raise its profile and deepen semiconductor ties with Taiwan as global chip demand accelerates. Martin Mayer, a semiconductor investment expert at Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI), Germany’s international economic promotion agency, said before leaving for Taiwan that the nation is a crucial partner in developing Germany’s semiconductor ecosystem. Germany’s debut at the international semiconductor exhibition in Taipei aims to “show presence” and signal its commitment to semiconductors, while building trust with Taiwanese companies, government and industry associations, he said. “The best outcome
People walk past advertising for a Syensqo chip at the Semicon Taiwan exhibition in Taipei yesterday.
RSS