A delegation led by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday met with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) to discuss the passage of the draft “creating helpful incentives to produce semiconductors (CHIPS) and science act” in the US Congress, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said.
Ker made the remarks after Pelosi’s congressional delegation wrapped up a one-hour meeting with Deputy Legislative Speaker Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) and the legislative caucus whips of four political parties to exchange views about key issues. Ker did not disclose what issues were discussed.
“One US lawmaker specifically talked about his efforts to push through the CHIPS act, which he believes will exert deep influence on the semiconductor industry and the whole supply chain,” Ker told reporters. “To my understanding, Pelosi and her delegation met TSMC chairman Mark Liu this morning. They talked about the chip issue and the meaning behind the passage of the CHIPS act.”
Photo from President Tsai Ing-wen’s Facebook page
TSMC, however, said there was no private meetings between Liu and Pelosi.
TSMC, the nation’s most valuable company and the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it has no comments on the meeting between Pelosi and Liu, nor on the CHIPS act and its US$52 billion in subsidies.
The act is considered an important legislative base for chipmakers to receive US government subsidies and tax incentives for building new chip capacity in the country, where chip manufacturing costs are much higher than in Taiwan.
Photo: Still frame grab from CNN.com
The subsidies would help narrow the manufacturing cost gap, TSMC said earlier.
The act stipulates that companies that receive funding cannot use it to boost production of advanced chips in China.
Last month, Liu told investors that the cost of its new fab in Arizona, which is under construction, was higher than expected and it is increasing.
“We are still working on the government subsidy and we’ll continue working on the cost reduction,” he said.
Production costs at TSMC’s Oregon factory are 50 percent higher than at its factories in Taiwan, company founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) said in April.
TSMC is building a US$12 billion fab in Arizona aiming to produce 5-nanometer chips from 2024.
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
RSS