Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers on Monday accused the government of “ruining” Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) by “gifting” it to the US due to pressure from Washington, adding that the move would hollow out Taiwan’s economy.
“It is the KMT that cultivated TSMC and turned it into a leader of the semiconductor industry, but now the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] government is giving it away. TSMC will surely become ‘USMC’ in the future,” KMT caucus convener Tseng Ming-chung (曾銘宗) told a news conference at the legislature.
KMT caucus deputy secretary Wu I-ding (吳怡玎) said that “the DPP government is not only pressuring it [TSMC] to set up plants abroad, it is also giving away gifts, such as Taiwanese experience and talent in chip production, to other countries,” Tseng said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
“In doing so, the DPP has ruined TSMC as well as Taiwan’s economy,” he added.
TSMC had total capital expenditure of about NT$1.8 trillion (US$58.65 billion at the current exchange rate) from 2019 to last year, which is equivalent to about 12 percent of overall domestic capital expenditure in Taiwan, Tseng said.
“It [TSMC] is an important leader of the nation’s economy, and has supply chain and industry clusters in Taiwan, as well as a vital role in the global economy,” he said.
“TSMC is now building a plant in Arizona with initial investment of US$12 billion. The 4-nanometer chip facility is due to start production in 2024. It is also planning a 3-nanometer plant with US$40 billion investment,” he added.
“Meanwhile, its main competitor, Intel, also has a plant in Arizona for 4-nanometer and 3-nanometer chips, only an hour’s drive away from TSMC’s plant,” Tseng said.
“Industry executives and experts have said Intel would be the winner by taking new technology from TSMC and improving its production yield rate,” he said.
“Intel offers salaries three to five times higher those offered by TSMC... It is tantamount to TSMC training engineers and technicians for Intel,” he added.
“We demand that the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) provide the support needed to come up with concrete policies to keep the ‘Silicon Shield’ in Taiwan,” Tseng said.
KMT Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) said the domestic semiconductor industry accounts for about 20 percent of Taiwan’s GDP and about one-third of the nation’s exports.
“TSMC has already sent 1,000 engineers to Arizona and the number is expected to reach 2,000 by the end of next year,” he said.
“When 3-nanometer chip production begins in 2026, it [TSMC] will have to poach engineers from Taiwan’s other semiconductor firms,” he added.
“The brain drain of Taiwan’s semiconductor professionals to the US would escalate in the coming years. Then what will Taiwan be left with?” Fai asked.
“TSMC is in its 35th year, but since President Tsai assumed office, she has caved in to pressure from the US government on the pretext that TSMC’s cutting-edge technology for producing advanced chips must not fall under China’s control,” he said.
KMT lawmakers also reiterated their version of TSMC’s establishment.
Fai said Taiwan had two outstanding figures — Sun Yun-suan (孫運璿), who served as economics minister and premier from the 1960s to the early 1980s, and economist Lee Kuo-ting (李國鼎), who served as finance and economics ministers, as well as a Cabinet adviser, from the 1960s to the 1980s.
“When Sun took charge as premier, he asked Lee to convince [TSMC founder] Morris Chang (張忠謀), who was then working at Texas Instruments in the US, to move to Taiwan by offering a higher salary and other promises,” he said.
“Chang then headed up the Industrial Technology Research Institute, then he founded TSMC in 1987,” he added.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS