Solar Applied Materials Technology Co (SOLAR, 光洋應用材料), a part of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) “green supply chain,” has pledged to invest NT$1 billion (US$34.1 million) to build a new plant at the Tainan Technology Industrial Park (台南科技工業區), the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
SOLAR has been collaborating with TSMC to extract precious metals from waste and reuse them as “sputtering target” material in high-end semiconductor manufacturing, a TSMC press release issued in May said.
Established in 1978, SOLAR also offers key materials and integrated services to customers in the optoelectronics, information and communications technology, petrochemicals and consumer electronics industries, information on the company’s Web site says.
Ho Kun-sung (何坤松), chief operating officer and spokesman for the ministry’s InvesTaiwan Service Center, said that the new plant would be the first facility of its kind in Taiwan and would satisfy the demand for sputtering target material for the semiconductor industry for the next five to 10 years.
The new plant is expected to be completed in the second quarter of next year, the center said.
SOLAR’s investment is part of the government’s Invest in Taiwan initiative. The company applied to be a part of the Invest in Taiwan initiative after it became a TSMC supplier, Ho said, adding that it had to commit to certain criteria to qualify.
“We want to encourage high value-added smart manufacturing in Taiwan,” Ho said. “They are not there yet, but they have made the commitment.”
The program provides favorable loan terms, talent and location scouting, and other assistance to attract investment back home.
“It was a very smooth process with Solar Applied Materials because it is a large, publicly traded company, but if smaller companies do not know how to meet the smart manufacturing requirements, we provide them with guidance,” Ho said.
Investment applications by two other firms were also approved yesterday, the ministry said.
Chia Yi Steel Co (嘉鋼精密), a metal components casting company based in Chiayi County’s Minsyong Township (民雄), plans to invest almost NT$200 million to expand its production lines and upgrade its manufacturing equipment.
Alex Global Technology Inc (亞獵士科技), the world’s largest maker of aluminium bicycle rims, is to invest NT$500 million to expand its facilities at the Tainan Shan Shang Industrial Park (臺南山上工業區).
The new facilities are to feature smart production lines that fully automate the rim production process to raise quality and lower labor costs, the ministry said.
The company has in recent years expanded into high-end forged vehicle wheels for sports and racing vehicles, the ministry said.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the