Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, booked its first-ever profit from its Arizona subsidiary in the first half of this year, four years after operations began, a company financial statement showed.
Wholly owned by TSMC, the Arizona unit contributed NT$4.52 billion (US$150.1 million) in net profit, compared with a loss of NT$4.34 billion a year earlier, the statement showed.
The company attributed the turnaround to strong market demand and high factory utilization.
Photo: Bloomberg
The Arizona unit counts Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc among its major customers.
The firm’s first fab in Arizona began high-volume production in the fourth quarter of last year, utilizing 4-nanometer process technology, while the second fab is to ramp up production soon with 3-nanometer technology, the company said.
By contrast, the company’s Japanese unit, Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing (JASM), posted a NT$4.52 billion loss in the first half, widening from a loss of NT$1.48 billion a year earlier, the statement showed.
TSMC owns a 73 percent stake in the Kumamoto-based venture, whose first fab entered volume production late last year. A second fab is slated to begin construction later this year, the company said.
The statement also showed that TSMC received NT$67.13 billion in government subsidies in the first half of this year, up sharply from NT$7.96 billion a year earlier. The funds came from the US, Germany, Japan and China.
TSMC said the subsidies were primarily used to offset the purchase costs of property, plants and equipment, as well as a portion of construction and production expenses.
The company is also eligible to apply for a 25 percent investment grant on qualified projects, it added.
In Italy’s storied gold-making hubs, jewelers are reworking their designs to trim gold content as they race to blunt the effect of record prices and appeal to shoppers watching their budgets. Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, surging near US$5,600 an ounce, more than double a year ago as geopolitical concerns and jitters over trade pushed investors toward the safe-haven asset. The rally is putting undue pressure on small artisans as they face mounting demands from customers, including international brands, to produce cheaper items, from signature pieces to wedding rings, according to interviews with four independent jewelers in Italy’s main
Macronix International Co (旺宏), the world’s biggest NOR flash memory supplier, yesterday said it would spend NT$22 billion (US$699.1 million) on capacity expansion this year to increase its production of mid-to-low-density memory chips as the world’s major memorychip suppliers are phasing out the market. The company said its planned capital expenditures are about 11 times higher than the NT$1.8 billion it spent on new facilities and equipment last year. A majority of this year’s outlay would be allocated to step up capacity of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips, which are used in embedded multimedia cards (eMMC), a managed
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has talked up the benefits of a weaker yen in a campaign speech, adopting a tone at odds with her finance ministry, which has refused to rule out any options to counter excessive foreign exchange volatility. Takaichi later softened her stance, saying she did not have a preference for the yen’s direction. “People say the weak yen is bad right now, but for export industries, it’s a major opportunity,” Takaichi said on Saturday at a rally for Liberal Democratic Party candidate Daishiro Yamagiwa in Kanagawa Prefecture ahead of a snap election on Sunday. “Whether it’s selling food or
In the wake of strong global demand for AI applications, Taiwan’s export-oriented economy accelerated with the composite index of economic indicators flashing the first “red” light in December for one year, indicating the economy is in booming mode, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Moreover, the index of leading indicators, which gauges the potential state of the economy over the next six months, also moved higher in December amid growing optimism over the outlook, the NDC said. In December, the index of economic indicators rose one point from a month earlier to 38, at the lower end of the “red” light.
RSS