United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) yesterday said that it has no immediate plans to set up a production site in the US amid speculation that the Taiwanese company might come under pressure to invest in the US market.
The comments came after the Chinese-language Mirror Media reported earlier yesterday that with US president-elect Donald Trump set to return to the White House next month, there might be more pressure on UMC, Taiwan’s second-largest contract chipmaker, to invest in the US.
The report cited unnamed industrial sources who said the pressure could arise because the US is the largest semiconductor market in the world and also due to Trump’s tariff threats.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
The report also cited an American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Facebook post on Nov. 21 that said AIT Director Raymond Greene had visited UMC.
However, UMC said Greene was making a scheduled visit to the company and did not expand on any details.
UMC said that it has no plans to invest in the US at the moment.
It said it was focusing its resources on its ongoing project with US chipmaker Intel Corp.
In January, UMC and Intel announced that they would develop a 12-nanometer semiconductor process platform.
Production at Intel’s Ocotillo Technology Fabrication site in Arizona is set to begin in 2027.
The AIT said in its Facebook post that Greene met with UMC’s top leadership to discuss the company’s future growth strategies and to exchange views on key industry topics.
The AIT described the Taiwanese chipmaker as “a global leader in mature-node foundry services, which are essential for manufacturing the chips that power our mobile devices, connected cars, industrial equipment and” Internet of Things.
The institute said it recognizes Taiwan’s crucial role in the global semiconductor supply chain and would carry on working to ensure that global supply chains stay secure and resilient.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is investing US$65 billion in Arizona.
TSMC, which dominates the global high-end chip market, is building two advanced wafer fabs and planning another.
According to Taipei-based market information advisory firm TrendForce Corp (集邦科技), UMC was the fourth-largest company in the global pure-play wafer foundry market in the third quarter of this year, following TSMC, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co and China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (中芯).
SETBACK: Apple’s India iPhone push has been disrupted after Foxconn recalled hundreds of Chinese engineers, amid Beijing’s attempts to curb tech transfers Apple Inc assembly partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has recalled about 300 Chinese engineers from a factory in India, the latest setback for the iPhone maker’s push to rapidly expand in the country. The extraction of Chinese workers from the factory of Yuzhan Technology (India) Private Ltd, a Hon Hai component unit, in southern Tamil Nadu state, is the second such move in a few months. The company has started flying in Taiwanese engineers to replace staff leaving, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named, as the
The prices of gasoline and diesel at domestic fuel stations are to rise NT$0.1 and NT$0.4 per liter this week respectively, after international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to rise to NT$27.3, NT$28.8 and NT$30.8 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to rise to NT$26.2 per liter at CPC stations and NT$26 at Formosa pumps, they said. The announcements came after international crude oil prices
STABLE DEMAND: Delta supplies US clients in the aerospace, defense and machinery segments, and expects second-half sales to be similar to the first half Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) expects its US automation business to remain steady in the second half, with no signs of weakening client demand. With demand from US clients remaining solid, its performance in the second half is expected to be similar to that of the first half, Andy Liu (劉佳容), general manager of the company’s industrial automation business group, said on the sidelines of the Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robot Show in Taipei on Wednesday. The company earlier reported that revenue from its automation business grew 7 percent year-on-year to NT$27.22 billion (US$889.98 million) in the first half, accounting for 11 percent
A German company is putting used electric vehicle batteries to new use by stacking them into fridge-size units that homes and businesses can use to store their excess solar and wind energy. This week, the company Voltfang — which means “catching volts” — opened its first industrial site in Aachen, Germany, near the Belgian and Dutch borders. With about 100 staff, Voltfang says it is the biggest facility of its kind in Europe in the budding sector of refurbishing lithium-ion batteries. Its CEO David Oudsandji hopes it would help Europe’s biggest economy ween itself off fossil fuels and increasingly rely on climate-friendly renewables. While
RSS