Foxsemicon Integrated Technology Inc (京鼎) yesterday said its new factory had entered operation and would generate NT$3 billion (US$95.15 million) in production value at full utilization.
The semiconductor equipment component manufacturing arm of Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) in January invested NT$2.4 billion to build the fab in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Township (竹南) amid a thriving semiconductor industry worldwide.
The new factory is expected to create 400 new jobs, Foxsemicon said in a statement.
Photo courtesy of Foxsemicon Integrated Technology Inc
Although the world’s memorychip industry in the past few months started showing some weakness amid sagging demands for PCs and smartphones, Foxsemicon expects the semiconductor equipment sector’s growth not to be dented by the trend.
Demands for semiconductors used in artificial intelligence, 5G devices, high-performing computing applications and electric vehicles remain robust, company spokesman Frank Chen (陳鎮福) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
The world’s major chipmakers, including memorychip makers, are still building new factories and expanding capacity to capture future growth, he said.
“The semiconductor equipment supply chain has not felt the chill of winter yet,” Chen said.
The world’s major semiconductor equipment suppliers, such as Applied Materials Inc and Lam Research Corp, are unable to keep pace with customers’ demand, as the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors weighing on logistics lengthen lead times, he said.
Foxsemicon counts Applied Materials as one of its customers, the company’s annual report said.
The world’s fab equipment spending is expected to grow about 9 percent annually to an all-time high of US$99 billion this year, with Taiwanese firms topping the equipment spending list, international trade group SEMI said last week.
SEMI also forecast that global spending on semiconductor equipment next year would remain in high gear at about US$97 billion.
“We retain our forecast of double-digit percentage [revenue] growth in the full year. So far we have performed better than that,” Chen said.
The Miaoli-based company saw revenue soar 18.9 percent to NT$9.26 billion in the first eight months of this year, compared with NT$7.79 billion in the same period last year.
Foxsemicon said that its local fabs and capacity help it boost supply resilience amid global geopolitical tensions and pandemic restrictions.
The stock price of Foxsemicon rallied 1.57 percent to NT$193.5 yesterday, outperforming the TAIEX, which gained 0.66 percent, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
Huawei Technologies Co’s (華為) latest smartphones carry a version of the advanced made-in-China processor it revealed last year, results from an independent analysis showed. This underscored the Chinese company’s ability to sustain production of the controversial chip. The Pura 70 series unveiled last week sports the Kirin 9010 processor, research firm TechInsights found during a teardown of the device. This is a newer version of the Kirin 9000s, made by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯) for the Mate 60 Pro, which had alarmed officials in Washington who thought a 7-nanometer chip was beyond China’s capabilities. Huawei has enjoyed a resurgence since
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
GROWTH DRIVERS: The firm expects to benefit from generative AI applications for smartphones, higher average selling price of flagship chips and market share gains Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday said it estimates that revenue would expand at an annual rate of about 15 percent this year, as a proliferation of generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications for premium smartphones are fueling demand for its flagship smartphone chips. It expects its smartphone chip revenue to outgrow the company’s average growth rate this year, benefiting primarily from the higher average selling price of its flagship smartphone chips and market share gains. The flagship chip revenue is to soar 50 percent year-on-year this year, MediaTek told an investor conference yesterday. As a whole, this year’s gross margin is