Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated that the company has not entered discussions with any company about potential investments or partnerships amid ongoing rumors of ailing Intel Corp seeking TSMC’s participation.
In a statement, TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, dismissed a report by the Wall Street Journal, saying that Intel had approached TSMC soliciting investment in Intel’s manufacturing operations or a partnership.
The company said it has never entered into talks with any company on establishing a joint venture or engaging in the licensing or transfer of technology.
Photo: I-Hwa Cheng, AFP
That stance was similar to previous statements made by TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) on several occasions when asked about a potential partnership with Intel.
Rumors about TSMC’s possible acquisition of a stake in Intel have been circulating for months.
After the Wall Street Journal report surfaced, TSMC’s American depositary receipts (ADRs) fell 1.44 percent overnight in the US, caused by fears that the Taiwanese chipmaker could lose the trust of its clients and see a fall in orders if it were to work with Intel, analysts said.
TSMC’s investments in Intel could help the US company improve its technology, which would create a stronger competitor for TSMC, while a partnership could result in technology leaks from the Taiwan side, analysts said.
Intel, which has been unable to keep up with TSMC on semiconductor manufacturing technologies, has secured investment from the US government, Japan’s Softbank Group and California-headquartered Nvidia Corp to support Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s (陳立武) bid to turn around the ailing chipmaker.
After the US government took a 10 percent stake in Intel, the US chipmaker last month received US$2 billion in investment from Softbank and then a US$5 billion pledge last week from Nvidia.
ENERGY ISSUES: The TSIA urged the government to increase natural gas and helium reserves to reduce the impact of the Middle East war on semiconductor supply stability Chip testing and packaging service provider ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) yesterday said it planned to invest more than NT$100 billion (US$3.15 billion) in building a new advanced chip testing facility in Kaohsiung to keep up with customer demand driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. That would be included in the company’s capital expenditure budget next year, ASE said. There is also room to raise this year’s capital spending budget from a record-high US$7 billion estimated three months ago, it added. ASE would have six factories under construction this year, another record-breaking number, ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
Intel Corp is joining Elon Musk’s long-shot effort to develop semiconductors for Tesla Inc, Space Exploration Technologies Corp and xAI, marking a surprising twist in the chipmaker’s comeback bid. Intel would help the Terafab project “refactor” the technology in a chip factory, the company said on Tuesday in a post on X, Musk’s social media platform. That is a stage in the development process that typically helps make chips more powerful or reliable. The chipmaker’s shares jumped 4.2 percent to US$52.91 in New York trading on Tuesday. The Terafab project is a grand plan by Musk to eventually manufacture his own chips for
RSS