Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday stayed mum after a report said that the chipmaker has pitched chip designers Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Broadcom Inc about taking a stake in a joint venture to operate Intel Corp’s factories.
Industry sources told the Central News Agency (CNA) that the possibility of TSMC proposing to operate Intel’s wafer fabs is low, as the Taiwanese chipmaker has always focused on its core business.
There is also concern over possible technology leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺) told CNA.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
Citing four sources familiar with the matter, Reuters reported that TSMC would not own more than 50 percent of the joint venture.
The talks are at an early stage and any final deal would need approval from US President Donald Trump’s administration, which does not want Intel or its foundry division to be fully foreign-owned, the sources said.
Some sources added that TSMC also made such proposals to Qualcomm Inc.
Intel and other related companies also declined to comment on the report.
The report came after TSMC last week announced with Trump that the company planned to make a fresh US$100 billion investment in the US, including three advanced chip wafer factories, two advanced chip packaging factories, and a research and development center.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) cited sources in the semiconductor industry who said that TSMC might not want to invest in Intel, as the US chip giant has many problems, and the two companies are different on many fronts, including corporate culture and manufacturing operations.
It is also impossible for TSMC to negotiate with its US customers to form a joint venture with less than a 50 percent stake, not to mention that former Intel directors have voiced opposition to TSMC taking control of Intel’s foundry business, the Liberty Times reported.
It remains to be seen whether the speculation would become reality, the sources said.
Intel reported net losses of US$18.8 billion for last year, its first yearly loss since 1986, driven by large impairments. Its foundry division’s property and plant equipment had a book value of US$108 billion as of Dec. 31 last year, a company filing showed.
Trump is keen to revive Intel’s fortunes and his administration has asked TSMC, the world’s leading contract chipmaker, to help turn around the troubled US chip giant, Reuters reported.
Bloomberg News last month reported that TSMC was considering a plan to acquire and operate equity in Intel’s factories at the request of the Trump administration, while Broadcom was interested in acquiring Intel’s chip design and marketing sector.
South Korea’s equity benchmark yesterday crossed a new milestone just a month after surpassing the once-unthinkable 5,000 mark as surging global memory demand powers the country’s biggest chipmakers. The KOSPI advanced as much as 2.6 percent to a record 6,123, with Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc each gaining more than 2 percent. With the benchmark now up 45 percent this year, South Korea’s stock market capitalization has also moved past France’s, following last month’s overtaking of Germany’s. Long overlooked by foreign funds, despite being undervalued, South Korean stocks have now emerged as clear winners in the global market. The so-called “artificial intelligence
NEW IDENTITY: Known for its software, India has expanded into hardware, with its semiconductor industry growing from US$38bn in 2023 to US$45bn to US$50bn India on Saturday inaugurated its first semiconductor assembly and test facility, a milestone in the government’s push to reduce dependence on foreign chipmakers and stake a claim in a sector dominated by China. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened US firm Micron Technology Inc’s semiconductor assembly, test and packaging unit in his home state of Gujarat, hailing the “dawn of a new era” for India’s technology ambitions. “When young Indians look back in the future, they will see this decade as the turning point in our tech future,” Modi told the event, which was broadcast on his YouTube channel. The plant would convert
‘SEISMIC SHIFT’: The researcher forecast there would be about 1.1 billion mobile shipments this year, down from 1.26 billion the prior year and erasing years of gains The global smartphone market is expected to contract 12.9 percent this year due to the unprecedented memorychip shortage, marking “a crisis like no other,” researcher International Data Corp (IDC) said. The new forecast, a dramatic revision down from earlier estimates, gives the latest accounting of the ongoing memory crunch that is affecting every corner of the electronics industry. The demand for advanced memory to power artificial intelligence (AI) tasks has drained global supply until well into next year and jeopardizes the business model of many smartphone makers. IDC forecast about 1.1 billion mobile shipments this year, down from 1.26 billion the prior
People stand in a Pokemon store in Tokyo on Thursday. One of the world highest-grossing franchises is celebrated its 30th anniversary yesterday.
RSS