Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is unlikely to be impacted if some of its technical secrets get leaked, Pegatron Corp (和碩) chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢) said yesterday.
Tung made the comment after local media reported that former TSMC executive vice president Lo Wei-jen (羅唯仁) allegedly took confidential data of the company’s most advanced 2 nanometer, A16 and A14 manufacturing process technologies before retiring from TSMC in July and was said to have joined Intel last month.
When asked by reporters about the case before attending a technology forum in Taipei, Tung said Taiwan’s semiconductor sector remains "globally competitive" and would not be seriously affected by "one or two individual incidents."
Photo: CNA
He said that TSMC’s advantage stems from a manufacturing system that can adjust to the needs of dozens of different clients while consistently keeping yields high.
Even if manufacturing data were taken, it could only "serve as a reference at best" because other firms likely use different equipment and production-line configurations, making direct replication "nearly impossible," he said.
He added that TSMC’s market leadership in advanced processes has endured even as many Taiwanese engineers and former TSMC managers have helped build China’s semiconductor supply chain in recent years.
On Tuesday, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said its Intellectual Property Branch has initiated a probe into Lo’s actions.
According to local media reports, Lo allegedly asked his subordinates before retiring to brief him about the advanced technologies and took photocopies of confidential documents with him.
As of press time, prosecutors have released few details about the case. Local media reports said TSMC was collecting evidence in preparation for "action" against Lo.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) investment project in Arizona has progressed better than expected, but it still faces challenges such as water and labor shortages, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Yeh Chun-hsien (葉俊顯) said yesterday. Speaking with reporters after visiting TSMC’s Arizona hub and attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit in Maryland last week, Yeh said TSMC’s Arizona site turned a profit of NT$16.14 billion (US$514 million) last year in its first full year of mass production. “TSMC told me it was surprised by the smooth trial run of the first fab, which has left the company optimistic about the project’s outlook,”
RSS