Netherlands-based ASML Holding NV, a leading global supplier of semiconductor production equipment, is considering bringing its European suppliers to Taiwan, doubling down on its supply-chain deployment in the country, Vice Premier Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) said yesterday.
That follows ASML’s announcement that it would build manufacturing facilities in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口) to support international customers and the development of the semiconductor industry.
RELOCATION
Photo: Bloomberg
Shen did not disclose details about ASML’s new efforts to relocate European supply chains to Taiwan.
ASML is to begin construction on the New Taipei City project in July, Shen said during a speech at a technology forum on Taiwan’s and Japan’s key semiconductor technology deployment and talent cultivation.
The project would be the Dutch firm’s biggest investment in Taiwan, and the continued cooperation between the company and Taiwan should enhance each other’s semiconductor capabilities.
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry has contributed significantly to the country’s economy, with production hitting NT$4.1 trillion (US$133.8 billion) last year and creating 300,000 jobs, he said.
NO COMMENT
Asked about Shen’s comment on its supply-chain allocation plan, ASML said in a e-mail to the Taipei Times: “We support global semiconductor industry development. We do not comment on specific cases or customers.”
ASML is the world’s sole supplier of extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) photolithography machines used by semiconductor manufacturers to produce cutting-edge chips.
It has become one of the foremost wafer-foundry equipment suppliers to Taiwanese manufacturers, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker.
ASML has five factories in Taiwan employing more than 4,500 people and plans to increase its investments in the country.
The company in 2020 launched a global EUV training center for engineers at the Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區) in Tainan.
This time was supposed to be different. The memorychip sector, famous for its boom-and-bust cycles, had changed its ways. A combination of more disciplined management and new markets for its products — including 5G technology and cloud services — would ensure that companies delivered more predictable earnings. Yet, less than a year after memory companies made such pronouncements, the US$160 billion industry is suffering one of its worst routs ever. There is a glut of the chips sitting in warehouses, customers are cutting orders and product prices have plunged. “The chip industry thought that suppliers were going to have better control,” said
Enimmune Corp (安特羅生技) has obtained marketing approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its EnVAX-A71 vaccine for enterovirus 71 (EV-71), becoming the nation’s first enterovirus vaccine completely made in Taiwan, it said yesterday. After spending 13 years and NT$1.5 billion (US$49.77 million) on the research and development of the vaccine, Enimmune plans to start manufacturing and marketing it by the end of March, the company said in a statement, without disclosing customer order figures. “It is possible that the vaccine would not be included in a national vaccination program initially, and consumers would need to pay for it themselves,” parent
Hon Hai Technology Group (鴻海科技集團), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) internationally, yesterday said it was confident that its performance would improve in the second half of this year. Investment plans related to electric vehicles (EVs) in different parts of the world are expected to gradually start coming to fruition, Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told reporters after leading a new year’s prayer at the company’s headquarters in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城). Major challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war continue to affect the global economy. However, Liu said that he expects a turnaround in
Singapore is seeing an influx of ultra-wealthy families from China looking to protect their wealth from a government that increasingly views them with suspicion. The Chinese Communist Party’s recent crackdowns on tech billionaires and tax-shy celebrities, as well as three years of “zero COVID” policies, have led many rich Chinese to look for a safe haven. Nervous over the fate of their fortunes, some of the country’s mega-rich have since booked tickets to Singapore, insiders said. The key Asian financial hub ticks all the boxes for relocating tycoons. Singapore has been ruled by one party for the past six decades, and labor strikes and
RSS