Contract chipmaker Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) yesterday said that it has acquired NT$1.06 billion (US$37.34 million) of manufacturing equipment from ASML Hong Kong Ltd’s Taiwan branch so that it can expand capacity to meet voracious demand.
The encouraging message came as a severe chip shortage has forced automakers to suspend production and trim shipments. Lockdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic have kept people at home, boosting the demand for chips.
Vanguard, which supplies power management chips and driver ICs for flat panels, said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday that the newly sourced equipment would be used to add to production capacity amid an increase in customer orders.
On Tuesday, the Hsinchu-based chipmaker said that it was seeking ways to increase capacity at its 8-inch fab as it struggled to satisfy customer demand.
The company said it would spend NT$5 billion on new facilities and equipment to mitigate the supply crunch, up from NT$3.54 billion last year.
The investment would increase its annual capacity by about 3 percent, Vanguard added.
Vanguard said that it has clear order visibility and expects its factory utilization rate to remain “quite high” in the first half of this year, thanks to rising demand.
The company’s equipment loading rate this quarter has risen to 100 percent from 95 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, it said.
Vanguard operates four 8-inch fabs — three in Taiwan and one in Singapore — with an output of 2.9 million 8-inch wafers per year.
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