Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登), the sole supplier of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) pods to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), yesterday said that it plans to invest NT$5 billion (US$179.18 million) to build a new factory to expand its EUV component capacity.
The factory is planned for New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城) and part of its facilities would be a manufacturing site for Gudeng’s fully owned subsidiary We Solutions Technology Co (家崎科技), which produces key components used in EUV inner pods, consumables used in the etching process and airplane components, Gudeng said.
Gudeng also supplies aircraft landing gear barrels to Airbus SE and Boeing Co.
Photo: Grace Hung, Taipei Times
“The factory will become a backup manufacturing site for key EUV components, in addition to the company’s major manufacturing site in Tainan’s Tree Valley Park (樹谷園區),” Gudeng chairman Bill Chiu (邱銘乾) said at a groundbreaking ceremony.
The factory would be its research and development center when construction is completed in two-and-a-half years, the firm said.
The five-year investment plan is to create between 1,200 and 1,500 jobs, it said.
Gudeng is optimistic about this year’s revenue growth, as revenue would “be higher quarter by quarter this year,” Chiu said, citing a rising number of IC designers adopting EUV technology.
The more companies that adopt EUV technology, the more EUV pods would be used, the firm said.
Gudeng’s revenue growth is primarily driven by demand from Intel Corp and TSMC, which are accelerating uptake of EUV tools to produce new-generation chips, a company executive said.
Intel is using more EUV tools to make 7-nanometer chips to fend off growing competition from Apple Inc and Advanced Micro Devices Inc, the executive said.
TSMC is to start pilot production of 3-nanometer chips in the second half, which would boost EUV pod consumption, he said.
Gudeng has added Samsung Electronics Co to its EUV pod customer list.
TSMC, Intel and Samsung are among the few chipmakers in the world that have the technological capability to advance their technologies with the assistance of EUV tools from ASML Holding NV, the sole supplier of EUV tools.
EUV pods are to make up about 60 percent of Gudeng’s wafer pods, up from 50 percent last year, Chiu said in January.
The firm said that first-quarter revenue surged 40.39 percent to NT$638.22 million from NT$454.59 million in the same period last year.
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