United Parcel Service Inc (UPS) opened a new US$100 million logistics center in Taiwan yesterday, its largest in the Asia Pacific, riding a wave of demand from tech companies.
Taiwan is home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s top contract chipmaker and dominant supplier of the advanced semiconductors powering the boom in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
UPS said the site in Taoyuan, a short drive from the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, will also be used by Applied Materials Inc, the largest US semiconductor equipment maker, as an Asian distribution center.
Photo courtesy of United Parcel Service Inc
“Around 80 percent of the freight is high-tech,” UPS Asia Pacific Supply Chain Solutions and Freight Forwarding president Lauren Zhao (趙莉) told reporters at the new facility.
“Everyone knows that Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is the most advanced in the world, and the manufacturing processes related to the semiconductor industry are also where Taiwan is leading the world,” she added.
While the package delivery giant currently only operates out of Taoyuan airport, UPS managing director for Japan, South Korea and Taiwan Sam Hung (洪毅) said the company was also considering flights to Kaohsiung in the south, depending on customer demand.
Kaohsiung is where TSMC is building a large new factory as part of a developing semiconductor cluster in southern Taiwan.
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