Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would not produce its most advanced technologies in the US next year, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday.
Kuo made the comment during an appearance at the legislature, hours after the chipmaker announced that it would invest an additional US$100 billion to expand its manufacturing operations in the US.
Asked by Taiwan People’s Party Legislator-at-large Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) if TSMC would allow its most advanced technologies, the yet-to-be-released 2-nanometer and 1.6-nanometer processes, to go to the US in the near term, Kuo denied it.
Photo: Liao Chen-hui, Taipei Times
TSMC recently opened its first US factory, which produces 4-nanometer chips, while construction on its second US factory would begin this year, Kuo said.
As for more advanced chips, “this is impossible,” Kuo said. “I guarantee it — the 2-nanometer and 1.6-nanometer processes will not go to the US next year.”
TSMC is expected to begin mass production of 2-nanometer chips in Taiwan in the second half of this year, followed by 1.6-nanometer chips next year.
Government officials have previously said the company would launch the 2-nanometer process in the US “more or less” in 2028.
Speaking to reporters earlier yesterday, Kuo pushed back on questions about whether TSMC’s investments in the US would harm Taiwan’s advantage in semiconductor manufacturing, therefore reducing its geopolitical importance.
“The entire world relies on chips manufactured in Taiwan,” he said. “TSMC’s chip production in the US and Japan is primarily for customers in those countries.”
“The chips it makes in Taiwan — in addition to [the ones] going to the US and Japan — are also needed to meet the demands of many other customers,” he said.
TSMC’s level of investment in the US is “not [large] enough” to draw the company’s entire supply chain there, Kuo said.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump weighed in on a pressing national issue: The rebranding of a restaurant chain. Last week, Cracker Barrel, a Tennessee company whose nationwide locations lean heavily on a cozy, old-timey aesthetic — “rocking chairs on the porch, a warm fire in the hearth, peg games on the table” — announced it was updating its logo. Uncle Herschel, the man who once appeared next to the letters with a barrel, was gone. It sparked ire on the right, with Donald Trump Jr leading a charge against the rebranding: “WTF is wrong with Cracker Barrel?!” Later, Trump Sr weighed
SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) is weighing whether to add a life insurance business to its portfolio, but would tread cautiously after completing three acquisitions in quick succession, president Stanley Chu (朱士廷) said yesterday. “We are carefully considering whether life insurance should play a role in SinoPac’s business map,” Chu told reporters ahead of an earnings conference. “Our priority is to ensure the success of the deals we have already made, even though we are tracking some possible targets.” Local media have reported that Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽), which is seeking buyers amid financial strains, has invited three financial
BACK IN BLACK: Net losses improved to NT$15.5 billion from NT$60.2 billion, while gross margin returned to positive territory for the first time in four years, it said State-run utility Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday said it was “highly possible” the company could turn its financial situation around this year after reporting profits from May on the back of lower fuel costs. The New Taiwan dollar’s appreciation against the US dollar and higher summer electricity rates also boosted the company’s bottom line, Taipower chairman Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生) said. Electricity rates are about 20 percent higher on average during the summer, while power consumption usually soars 40 percent over other seasons because of higher temperatures, Taipower data showed. Revenue rose 16 percent year-on-year in the first half of this year to
CAUTION: Right now, artificial intelligence runs on faith, not productivity and eventually, the risk of a bubble will emerge,’ TIER economist Gordon Sun said Taiwanese manufacturers turned more optimistic last month, ending a five-month streak of declining sentiment as concerns over US tariffs, currency volatility and China’s overcapacity began to ease, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) said yesterday. The manufacturing business confidence index rose 1.17 points from June to 86.8, its first rebound since February. TIER economist Gordon Sun (孫明德) attributed the uptick to fading trade uncertainties, a steadier New Taiwan dollar and reduced competitive pressure from Chinese producers. Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is unlikely to face significant damage from Washington’s ongoing probe into semiconductors, given the US’ reliance on Taiwanese chips to power artificial
RSS