Merck Group yesterday said it would ramp up production next year at its new flagship facility in Kaohsiung’s Lujhu District (路竹) to satisfy growing demand for advanced semiconductor materials and specialty gases, and to address supply resilience issues amid mounting geopolitical risks.
Merck made the remarks during a news conference before the inauguration of its 500 million euros (US$582.1 million) facility, which is also to supply other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, it said.
Merck executive board deputy chair and electronics CEO Kai Beckmann told reporters the company adopted a “local-for-local” strategy about seven years ago to address the cycle time of the development of customers’ products, but the group now sees that approach as more about enhancing resilience in supply.
Photo: Su Fu-nan, Taipei Times
Merck Group Taiwan managing director John Lee (李俊隆) said the group can supply more than 50 percent of semiconductor materials and specialty gases to local customers via its plants in Taiwan, adding that the localization rate would go up after the new facility enters volume production next year.
For thin-film materials, Merck is capable of satisfying 80 percent of local demand, compared with 54 percent last year, Lee said.
Merck last month also launched a capacity expansion project to increase the supply of formation materials used in semiconductor manufacturing, Lee said.
That aligns with Taiwanese customers’ advance toward cutting-edge semiconductor technologies and artificial intelligence-related technologies, he added.
Beckmann said Merck also applied its “local-for-local” strategy in other regions of the world to provide locally built capacity.
Asked whether Merck is gaining an upper hand over rivals in supplying semiconductor materials to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), which is reportedly avoiding sourcing key equipment and materials from China, Beckmann said that the company’s “local-for-local” approach in China aimed to build local capacity for Chinese customers and does not export key equipment or strategic materials.
As for whether the company would be affected by the growing weaponization of key raw materials such as rare earths, Beckmann said he would “try to find something positive in that complication, because it sounds all very complicated and negative.”
Merck would be less exposed to that issue, as it has built a strong global footprint, allowing it to differentiate itself, Beckmann said, adding that the company has expanded its technology offerings and material portfolios, and developed multiple sources of rare earths and minerals.
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
‘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.
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
RSS