The Investment Commission yesterday gave the green light to plans by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the nation's top chip-maker, to construct a factory in China.
With the commission's approval yesterday, TSMC can now transfer to China up to 6 percent, or approximately US$50 million, of the planned total investment to set up TSMC (Shanghai) Ltd.
The first cash injection will be used to prepare the building that will eventually house the semiconductor manufacturing plant, or fab.
"Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co has fulfilled the requirements for the first phase of investment in China," Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-Hsiang (施顏祥) told the press yesterday morning.
"TSMC can now legally invest in China," he said.
TSMC spokesperson Tzeng Jin-hao (曾晉皓) said yesterday that the timetable for the second phase will depend on TSMC. The company now plans to meet with the Shanghai government -- which has already prepared land for the project at the Songjiang Industrial Park on the outskirts of the city -- to sign an official agreement launching the project, Tzeng said.
Equipment will be moved to the plant when "local market conditions are right," Tzeng said yesterday, without elaborating.
In March last year, the government lifted a decades-old ban on investing in semiconductor plants in China.
Last month, a government review body gave TSMC preliminary approval to invest in an 8-inch wafer fab in Shanghai, but passed the case to the ministry's Investment Commission to verify where the company would find the majority of funding for the US$898 million plan.
The ministry was concerned too much money would be moved out of Taiwan in one go. TSMC has promised to use foreign exchange holdings for the investment.
Fearing the loss of advanced technology to rivals in China, the government has stipulated that currently only obsolete 8-inch equipment can be moved across the Strait.
TSMC has pledged to invest NT$200 billion in Taiwan to build three more 12-inch wafer fabs over the next five years to convince the government that the most advanced technology will remain in this country.
Originally TSMC planned to begin mass-producing chips in China by the end of this year. China's semiconductor market is expected to be the second largest in the world after the US by 2004, US-based tech research firm International Data Corp (IDC) reported on Monday.
At TSMC's last investors' conference, chairman Morris Chang (張忠謀) said that date is now more likely to be the second half of next year. The delay is not expected to hurt the company as it has the technological edge over its rivals in China.
"TSMC realizes that China's market potential is not going to expand very rapidly," said Rick Hsu (徐禕成), a chip-industry analyst at Nomura International in Taipei.
Also See Story:
President rules out implementing direct links when speaking to the party faithful
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
PREPARATION: Ferry lines and flights were canceled ahead of only the second storm to hit the nation in November, while many areas canceled classes and work Authorities yesterday evacuated more than 3,000 people ahead of approaching Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which is expected to make landfall between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County this evening. Fung-wong was yesterday morning downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it approached the nation’s southwest coast, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, as it issued a land alert for the storm. The alert applies to residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春). As of press time last night, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties, as well as Chiayi city and county had
RSS