Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (
"We will make US$1.5 billion by the end of next year," Powerchip Chairman Frank Huang (
The company took 4 percent of the market last year, with sales of NT$11.2 billion (US$324 million).
Powerchip is betting the chip industry will rebound strongly from its worst-ever year last year, when demand for the chips that power mobile phones, computers and other electronics faltered worldwide. Memory-chip sales fell to about US$11 billion from about US$30 billion a year earlier.
Ben Akrigg, who counts shares in Taiwan memory-chip makers among the US$2.5 billion he helps invest for Morley Fund Management, said the strength of the recovery, will depend on growth in personal-computer sales. He's more guarded than Powerchip.
"It all depends on the price and outlook for memory chips," he said. "Powerchip will probably take about 5 percent to 6 percent of the market," he said.
Rick Hsu (
Powerchip's new US$4.3 billion plant, which opened Tuesday, will cut costs by as much as a third by more than doubling the yield of chips that can be made from the silicon wafers. Hsu said even a tripling of sales next year won't support the US$1.6 billion the company said it plans to spend on the plant.
"Powerchip will have to rely on outside funding," said Hsu, whose company helped the company raise US$149 million earlier this month for the plant. "They'll probably need somewhere between US$300 million and US$500 million next year."
The company said yesterday it expects sales to meet its funding requirements. About a third of its production will be sold to Mitsubishi Electric, Powerchip said.
Powerchip and Nanya Technologies Corp (南亞科技), Taiwan's largest memory-chip maker, are wild cards in the competition for market share as the number of dominant players in the memory chip business shrinks to five from about 15 a decade ago.
Powerchip said it has been in talks with Elpida Memory Inc, a venture between Japan's Hitachi Ltd and NEC Corp, which is taking over memory chip production from the Japanese companies as they exit the commodity business.
"We've pushed Elpida back to talks with Mitsubishi Electric,"Powerchip President Michael Tsai (
"The two need to cooperate more closely on technology."
Powerchip doesn't rule out the possibility of cooperating with Elpida, which is also running a 12 inch wafer plant in Japan, said Eric Tang (
The three Japanese companies and Powerchip, which use the same type of technology that stacks memory cells in layers on a chip's surface, will probably need to team up to share development and manufacturing costs, analysts said.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
RSS