Local suppliers of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) appear to be divided over whether they should follow the chipmaker and also set up production facilities in the US, after TSMC announced that it would increase its investment in Arizona.
While some TSMC suppliers, including clean-room design service provider United Integrated Services Co (漢唐集成), have set up plants in the US, others, such as IC testing and analysis provider Materials Analysis Technology Inc (閎康科技), have hesitated to make the move because of high production costs in the US.
TSMC on Tuesday announced that it would increase its planned US$12 billion investment in Arizona to US$40 billion to build a 3-nanometer fab, scheduled to begin operations in 2026, near its 4-nanometer fab, which is scheduled to start production in 2024.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
Many TSMC suppliers had committed to following their biggest customer to the US well before the chipmaker announced its additional investment.
United Integrated Services said it has set up a subsidiary — United Integrated Services (USA) — to serve TSMC, to which it has provided integrated engineering system services since 1994.
The company said it provides services to TSMC facilities in the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區) and the Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區), and has been awarded as one of the chipmaker’s best suppliers.
Facility engineering turnkey project provider Marketech International Corp (帆宣) said it opened Marketech International Corp USA long before TSMC in May 2020 announced its plan to build an advanced semiconductor fab in Arizona.
It has doubled its team in the US to more than 100 specialists because of the TSMC move, Marketech said, adding that it is already profiting from the US expansion.
Its US subsidiary posted a profit of about NT$250 million (US$8.15 million) in the first nine months of this year, after securing orders from TSMC for work on its first Arizona fab, sharply up from a profit of NT$3.4 million for the whole of last year, Marketech said.
Mass flow controller and purifier supplier Taiwan Puritic Corp (和淞科技) said that although it only has paid-in capital of NT$600 million and sales of less than NT$10 billion a year, it still decided to follow TSMC to the US.
Taiwan Puritic in March last year set up a US subsidiary — Propersys Corp — after TSMC announced its Arizona investment plan.
Other suppliers have been more cautious.
Materials Analysis said the higher cost structure in the US is a major factor in its reluctance to set up a facility there.
It is unsure whether it would find workers with the needed skills in the US, it added.
Taiwan Speciality Chemicals Corp (台特化) has also been hesitant to invest in the US.
The company said it needed to see the economies of scale in the US market grow to a certain level before it might start production there, adding that it opened a warehouse in the US to handle and distribute its products made in Taiwan.
RECYCLE: Taiwan would aid manufacturers in refining rare earths from discarded appliances, which would fit the nation’s circular economy goals, minister Kung said Taiwan would work with the US and Japan on a proposed cooperation initiative in response to Beijing’s newly announced rare earth export curbs, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday. China last week announced new restrictions requiring companies to obtain export licenses if their products contain more than 0.1 percent of Chinese-origin rare earths by value. US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent on Wednesday responded by saying that Beijing was “unreliable” in its rare earths exports, adding that the US would “neither be commanded, nor controlled” by China, several media outlets reported. Japanese Minister of Finance Katsunobu Kato yesterday also
Taiwan’s rapidly aging population is fueling a sharp increase in homes occupied solely by elderly people, a trend that is reshaping the nation’s housing market and social fabric, real-estate brokers said yesterday. About 850,000 residences were occupied by elderly people in the first quarter, including 655,000 that housed only one resident, the Ministry of the Interior said. The figures have nearly doubled from a decade earlier, Great Home Realty Co (大家房屋) said, as people aged 65 and older now make up 20.8 percent of the population. “The so-called silver tsunami represents more than just a demographic shift — it could fundamentally redefine the
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) said it expects peak season effects in the fourth quarter to continue to boost demand for passenger flights and cargo services, after reporting its second-highest-ever September sales on Monday. The carrier said it posted NT$15.88 billion (US$517 million) in consolidated sales last month, trailing only September last year’s NT$16.01 billion. Last month, CAL generated NT$8.77 billion from its passenger flights and NT$5.37 billion from cargo services, it said. In the first nine months of this year, the carrier posted NT$154.93 billion in cumulative sales, up 2.62 percent from a year earlier, marking the second-highest level for the January-September
Businesses across the global semiconductor supply chain are bracing themselves for disruptions from an escalating trade war, after China imposed curbs on rare earth mineral exports and the US responded with additional tariffs and restrictions on software sales to the Asian nation. China’s restrictions, the most targeted move yet to limit supplies of rare earth materials, represent the first major attempt by Beijing to exercise long-arm jurisdiction over foreign companies to target the semiconductor industry, threatening to stall the chips powering the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. They prompted US President Donald Trump on Friday to announce that he would impose an additional
RSS