The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday said reports of global tech firms cutting dependence on Taiwan-made chips were inaccurate, after chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) issued a clarification emphasizing it would expand its business based on Taiwan’s semiconductor supply chain.
“The recent reports on the global supply chain shifting away from Taiwan are inaccurate and MediaTek Inc has pointed out the mistake in a filing,” the ministry said, responding to news reports that global tech firms would require their chip suppliers to have multiple sources to cut dependence on Taiwan amid rising US-China trade tensions.
The reports cited MediaTek chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行).
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
The Hsinchu-based company, which designs chips used in smartphones, laptops and other technology applications, said in the filing that it has no intention of moving away from Taiwan in any way, but would continue to invest in the nation and work with existing partners in its bid to expand in overseas markets.
As the world’s fourth-largest chip company, MediaTek always has multiple suppliers to serve a global clientele, it said, adding that its investment and procurement spending in Taiwan amounts to NT$300 billion (US$9.64 billion) a year.
MediaTek would seek to gain customers and business globally based on Taiwan’s robust semiconductor supply chain, it said.
The ministry said that Taiwan has a well-established and irreplaceable semiconductor ecosystem that encompasses upstream, midstream and downstream players, and has cultivated semiconductor talent for more than 40 years.
The investment environment in Taiwan is safe and built upon a democratic legal system that would continue to attract companies from global semiconductor supply chains, the ministry said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the world’s largest chipmaker, whose clients include Apple Inc, MediaTek, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Nvidia Corp and Intel Corp, has reiterated its commitment to keeping advanced manufacturing technologies in Taiwan after announcing plans to add capacity in Hsinchu and Kaohsiung, the ministry said.
International firms have followed suit.
US semiconductor equipment manufacturer Applied Materials Inc in 2019 set up a manufacturing center and a research lab in the Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區), while Dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturer ASML Holding NV in 2020 launched a global extreme ultraviolet training center for engineers in the same park, the ministry said.
Entegris Inc, a supplier of advanced materials and process solutions for the semiconductor industry and other high-tech sectors, is expanding its investment in a new advanced manufacturing facility in Kaohsiung to about US$500 million in three years, while German science and technology company Merck Group has unveiled plans to spend US$600 million expanding its manufacturing and research investment in Taiwan over the next five to seven years, the ministry said.
JITTERS: Nexperia has a 20 percent market share for chips powering simpler features such as window controls, and changing supply chains could take years European carmakers are looking into ways to scratch components made with parts from China, spooked by deepening geopolitical spats playing out through chipmaker Nexperia BV and Beijing’s export controls on rare earths. To protect operations from trade ructions, several automakers are pushing major suppliers to find permanent alternatives to Chinese semiconductors, people familiar with the matter said. The industry is considering broader changes to its supply chain to adapt to shifting geopolitics, Europe’s main suppliers lobby CLEPA head Matthias Zink said. “We had some indications already — questions like: ‘How can you supply me without this dependency on China?’” Zink, who also
At least US$50 million for the freedom of an Emirati sheikh: That is the king’s ransom paid two weeks ago to militants linked to al-Qaeda who are pushing to topple the Malian government and impose Islamic law. Alongside a crippling fuel blockade, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) has made kidnapping wealthy foreigners for a ransom a pillar of its strategy of “economic jihad.” Its goal: Oust the junta, which has struggled to contain Mali’s decade-long insurgency since taking power following back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, by scaring away investors and paralyzing the west African country’s economy.
BUST FEARS: While a KMT legislator asked if an AI bubble could affect Taiwan, the DGBAS minister said the sector appears on track to continue growing The local property market has cooled down moderately following a series of credit control measures designed to contain speculation, the central bank said yesterday, while remaining tight-lipped about potential rule relaxations. Lawmakers in a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee voiced concerns to central bank officials that the credit control measures have adversely affected the government’s tax income and small and medium-sized property developers, with limited positive effects. Housing prices have been climbing since 2016, even when the central bank imposed its first set of control measures in 2020, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) said. “Since the second half of
AI BOOST: Next year, the cloud and networking product business is expected to remain a key revenue pillar for the company, Hon Hai chairman Young Liu said Manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted its best third-quarter profit in the company’s history, backed by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Net profit expanded 17 percent annually to NT$57.67 billion (US$1.86 billion) from NT$44.36 billion, the company said. On a quarterly basis, net profit soared 30 percent from NT$44.36 billion, it said. Hon Hai, which is Apple Inc’s primary iPhone assembler and makes servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators, said earnings per share expanded to NT$4.15 from NT$3.55 a year earlier and NT$3.19 in the second quarter. Gross margin improved to 6.35 percent,
RSS