Semiconductor suppliers are on alert over an escalation in domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases in Taiwan, to ensure that there is no interruption to their production, especially amid a global chip shortage.
As the companies’ production is predicted to remain unscathed due to tightened disease prevention measures, several IC heavyweights still expect their second quarter sales to smash quarterly records.
That is because the semiconductor sector is expected to continue benefiting from solid global demand caused by emerging technologies such as 5G applications, high-performance computing devices and gadgets, including notebook computers, tablets and Internet-related communications equipment used in the booming stay-at-home economy, analysts said.
Photo courtesy of IBM research via Reuters
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, on Saturday said one of its employees had tested positive for COVID-19.
The employee, who works at the company’s plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區), has been admitted to hospital for treatment, TSMC said.
The company said the incident would not affect its operations.
TSMC introduced a rotational work schedule on Wednesday last week, when the Central Epidemic Command Center raised the COVID-19 alert to level 3 nationwide, it said.
United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) has also tightened disease prevention measures.
Employees in the company’s non-production departments are all working from home, while production line staff are on a rotational work schedule, the firm said.
The IC design sector has also been riding the wave of growing global demand, with smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) forecasting that 5G applications would continue to boost its sales in the second quarter.
The company said its employees have largely been working from home except some who have obtained approval to enter its compound.
Memory module maker Apacer Technology Inc (宇瞻科技), DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) and contract chipmaker Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) have also reported they have staff who tested positive for COVID-19 and are under 14-day quarantine in a hospital or centralized quarantine facility.
Separately, US-based DRAM chipmaker Micron Technology Inc is scheduled to launch an advanced plant on the Central Taiwan Science Park’s Houli (后里) campus next month, but the firm has decided to postpone the opening ceremony due to the COVID-19 situation in Taiwan.
The A3 plant is to produce the most advanced 1-alpha process in the global DRAM industry, analysts said.
Micron Taiwan, a wholly owned subsidiary of the US company, has said that the A3 plant is aimed at expanding Micron’s clean room capacity and upgrading its technologies, rather than boosting its wafer production in Taiwan.
Mircon has not disclosed any financial terms for the A3 plant, while local media have reported that the investment could be as much as NT$400 billion (US$14.32 billion).
Reports said the A3 plant is the first phase of Micron’s investment plan in central Taiwan and that the second phase would proceed depending on market demand.
DOLLAR CHALLENGE: BRICS countries’ growing share of global GDP threatens the US dollar’s dominance, which some member states seek to displace for world trade US president-elect Donald Trump on Saturday threatened 100 percent tariffs against a bloc of nine nations if they act to undermine the US dollar. His threat was directed at countries in the so-called BRICS alliance, which consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia have applied to become members and several other countries have expressed interest in joining. While the US dollar is by far the most-used currency in global business and has survived past challenges to its preeminence, members of the alliance and other developing nations say they are fed
LIMITED MEASURES: The proposed restrictions on Chinese chip exports are weaker than previously considered, following lobbying by major US firms, sources said US President Joe Biden’s administration is weighing additional curbs on sales of semiconductor equipment and artificial intelligence (AI) memory chips to China that would escalate the US crackdown on Beijing’s tech ambitions, but stop short of some stricter measures previously considered, said sources familiar with the matter. The restrictions could be unveiled as soon as next week, said the sources, who emphasized that the timing and contours of the rules have changed several times, and that nothing is final until they are published. The measures follow months of deliberations by US officials, negotiations with allies in Japan and the Netherlands, and
Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) yesterday said it expects any impact of new tariffs from US president-elect Donald Trump to hit the company less than its rivals, citing its global manufacturing footprint. Young Liu (劉揚偉), chairman of the contract manufacturer and key Apple Inc supplier, told reporters after a forum in Taipei that it saw the primary impact of any fresh tariffs falling on its clients because its business model is based on contract manufacturing. “Clients may decide to shift production locations, but looking at Foxconn’s global footprint, we are ahead. As a result, the impact on us is likely smaller compared to
TECH COMPETITION: The US restricted sales of two dozen types of manufacturing equipment and three software tools, and blacklisted 140 more Chinese entities US President Joe Biden’s administration unveiled new restrictions on China’s access to vital components for chips and artificial intelligence (AI), escalating a campaign to contain Beijing’s technological ambitions. The US Department of Commerce slapped additional curbs on the sale of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and chipmaking gear, including that produced by US firms at foreign facilities. It also blacklisted 140 more Chinese entities that it accused of acting on Beijing’s behalf, although it did not name them in an initial statement. Full details on the new sanctions and Entity List additions were to be published later yesterday, a US official said. The US “will
RSS