United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks.
The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement.
The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said.
Photo courtesy of United Microelectronics Corp
The new fab is to produce chips used in premium smartphone displays, power-efficient memory chips for Internet of Things devices and next-generation connectivity chips, it said.
Together with the existing 12-inch factory, UMC would have a combined capacity of 1 million wafers in Singapore after the new fab becomes operational next year, the chipmaker said.
UMC copresident S.C. Chien (簡山傑) said in the statement that the new fab enhances the chipmaker’s ability to meet demand and enhance its supply chain resilience.
Photo courtesy of United Microelectronics Corp
The capacity expansion plan is expected to create approximately 700 jobs over the next few years, including engineers for process and equipment, as well as research and development.
Separately, UMC said it has no merger-and-acquisition deals on the table at the moment, dismissing a report from online news site Nikkei Asia that the company is restarting a merger assessment with US contract chipmaker GlobalFoundries Inc.
More than 10 years ago, the contract chipmakers considered a merger and consolidation, but the idea was abandoned. UMC and GlobalFoundries both specialize in mature chip production.
In reporting that the two chipmakers were exploring a merger, Nikkei Asia said they were likely to create a bigger US-based company that would have broad production footprints across Asia, the US and Europe.
The report said the merger is expected to help the US gain access to mature chips amid escalating tensions across the Taiwan Strait.
The combination of the two companies would create an entity with a larger market share of 9.3 percent, surpassing Samsung Electronics Inc’s 9.1 percent, if they went ahead with the deal, Taipei-based researcher TrendForce Corp’s (集邦科技) data showed.
GlobalFoundries ranked as the world’s No.5 contract chipmaker after UMC. The San Jose, California-based chipmaker posted a loss of US$26 million last year, while UMC reported a net profit of NT$47.21 billion (US$1.42 billion).
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) last week recorded an increase in the number of shareholders to the highest in almost eight months, despite its share price falling 3.38 percent from the previous week, Taiwan Stock Exchange data released on Saturday showed. As of Friday, TSMC had 1.88 million shareholders, the most since the week of April 25 and an increase of 31,870 from the previous week, the data showed. The number of shareholders jumped despite a drop of NT$50 (US$1.59), or 3.38 percent, in TSMC’s share price from a week earlier to NT$1,430, as investors took profits from their earlier gains
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
INFLATION CONSIDERATION: The BOJ governor said that it would ‘keep making appropriate decisions’ and would adjust depending on the economy and prices The Bank of Japan (BOJ) yesterday raised its benchmark interest rate to the highest in 30 years and said more increases are in the pipeline if conditions allow, in a sign of growing conviction that it can attain the stable inflation target it has pursued for more than a decade. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda’s policy board increased the rate by 0.2 percentage points to 0.75 percent, in a unanimous decision, the bank said in a statement. The central bank cited the rising likelihood of its economic outlook being realized. The rate change was expected by all 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The
RSS