Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that Japan-based Denso Corp will take a minority stake in its Japanese venture with Sony Semiconductor Solution Corp, a partnership that is to build a plant in Japan amid a scarcity of chips for automobiles.
With an investment of US$350 million, Denso would hold a more than 10 percent stake in Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Inc (JASM) in Kumamoto Prefecture, TSMC said in a statement.
“Semiconductors are becoming increasingly important in the automotive industry as mobility technologies evolve, including automated driving and electrification,” Denso chief executive officer Koji Arima said in the statement. “Through this partnership, we contribute to the stable supply of semiconductors over the medium to long term and thus to the automotive industry.”
Photographer: I-Hwa Cheng/Bloomberg
Construction of the new fab is to begin this year, with production to begin by the end of 2024, TSMC said.
TSMC plans to enhance JASM’s capabilities with 12-nanometer and 16-nanometer process technologies in addition to the previously announced 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer technologies, it said.
The new facility would increase monthly capacity to 55,000 12-inch wafers, it said.
Capital expenditure for the new fab is estimated to be US$8.6 billion, TSMC said, adding that it would create about 1,700 jobs.
TSMC also said it is recruiting a business intelligence analyst to help collect data regarding political economics for internal analysis.
It is the first time that the firm has recruited for such a position as geopolitical issues become more important for multinational enterprises.
TSMC three years ago hired Peter Cleveland to enhance its communications with government agencies in the US.
Cleveland is a vice president of TSMC who directs global policy.
Its board of directors yesterday approved the distribution of a NT$2.75 per share cash dividend for last quarter.
The board approved distribution of performance bonuses and profit sharing totaling NT$71.2029 billion (US$2.55 billion) for last year and approved capital appropriations of US$20.94 billion.
To finance TSMC’s capacity expansion and pollution prevention related expenditure, the board approved the issuance in Taiwan of up to NT$60 billion of unsecured corporate bonds and up to US$1 billion of US dollar-denominated unsecured corporate bonds.
The board approved the issuance of 1.387 million shares as restricted stock awards for employees to attract and retain executives and talent, and to link compensation with shareholders’ interests and environmental, social and corporate governance achievements.
To offset dilution from the increase in shares due to the issuance, the board approved a program for the company to buy back its common shares on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The board approved the issuance of no more than 2.96 million common shares for restricted stock awards, with the plan to be presented to shareholders at the annual meeting on June 8 for approval.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day