Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, has bought almost all green power produced and traded by certified enterprises in the country, the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection said yesterday.
To promote renewable energy development, the bureau established the National Renewable Energy Certification Center in 2017.
The bureau issued its first certificate in May 2017 and as of this month, it had issued 1.06 million certificates to enterprise power producers, enabling them to trade their power on a green energy transaction mechanism, which was inaugurated in 2020, or retain the electricity for self-use.
The 1.06 million certificates were issued for the production of 1.06 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity via renewable sources, cutting carbon emissions by 534,000 tonnes, the bureau said.
About 910,000 certificates have been traded on the transaction platform as of this month, with TSMC purchasing almost 900,000 certificates.
As for the remaining 150,000 certificates, the green power produced was for self-use, with TSMC also securing more than 7,100 certificates for green power which it generated for its own use.
Local enterprises like TSMC are keen to utilize green power as they incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) concepts into their core business operations.
The platform has encouraged many enterprises in a wide range of industries, such as energy, electronics, financial and biotech, to produce green power to transact or for self-use, a move that should raise the amount of green power used to generate electricity, the bureau said.
Some commercial buildings have also started producing green power by installing solar panels on their roofs, it added.
In addition to its large purchase of green power in Taiwan, TSMC has sold “green bonds” on the local market.
Green bonds, promoted by Taiwan’s capital markets and financial authorities, are aimed at encouraging companies to act in an environmentally responsible way, with the proceeds going to eco-friendly projects, said the Taipei Exchange (TPEx), which runs the local bond market.
Data compiled by the TPEx showed that TSMC has issued five tranches of green bonds in Taiwan, with an outstanding value of NT$17.4 billion (US$624 million).
Shiina Ito has had fewer Chinese customers at her Tokyo jewelry shop since Beijing issued a travel warning in the wake of a diplomatic spat, but she said she was not concerned. A souring of Tokyo-Beijing relations this month, following remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about Taiwan, has fueled concerns about the impact on the ritzy boutiques, noodle joints and hotels where holidaymakers spend their cash. However, businesses in Tokyo largely shrugged off any anxiety. “Since there are fewer Chinese customers, it’s become a bit easier for Japanese shoppers to visit, so our sales haven’t really dropped,” Ito
The number of Taiwanese working in the US rose to a record high of 137,000 last year, driven largely by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) rapid overseas expansion, according to government data released yesterday. A total of 666,000 Taiwanese nationals were employed abroad last year, an increase of 45,000 from 2023 and the highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic, data from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed. Overseas employment had steadily increased between 2009 and 2019, peaking at 739,000, before plunging to 319,000 in 2021 amid US-China trade tensions, global supply chain shifts, reshoring by Taiwanese companies and
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) Chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) and the company’s former chairman, Mark Liu (劉德音), both received the Robert N. Noyce Award -- the semiconductor industry’s highest honor -- in San Jose, California, on Thursday (local time). Speaking at the award event, Liu, who retired last year, expressed gratitude to his wife, his dissertation advisor at the University of California, Berkeley, his supervisors at AT&T Bell Laboratories -- where he worked on optical fiber communication systems before joining TSMC, TSMC partners, and industry colleagues. Liu said that working alongside TSMC
TECHNOLOGY DAY: The Taiwanese firm is also setting up a joint venture with Alphabet Inc on robots and plans to establish a firm in Japan to produce Model A EVs Manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday announced a collaboration with ChatGPT developer OpenAI to build next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and strengthen its local supply chain in the US to accelerate the deployment of advanced AI systems. Building such an infrastructure in the US is crucial for strengthening local supply chains and supporting the US in maintaining its leading position in the AI domain, Hon Hai said in a statement. Through the collaboration, OpenAI would share its insights into emerging hardware needs in the AI industry with Hon Hai to support the company’s design and development work, as well