May 11, 2004 – Capital spending in Taiwan’s semiconductor and TFT-LCD industries is expected to top $15.02 billion this year, according to the China Economic News Service. Three domestic sectors — IC foundries, IC packaging/testing, and large-sized TFT-LCD panels — are predicted to take the world’s no. 1 positions, respectively.

All six domestic TFT-LCD firms are building next-generation (sixth-, seventh-, or 7.5-generation) panel facilities, spending $7.51 billion in total (AU Optronics leads the pack with a $2.55 billion budget).

For foundries, TSMC and UMC plan to spend $2.0 billion and $2.12 billion, respectively, with much of that will go to “greatly expand” 300mm capacity. DRAM foundries, including Powerchip, Inotera, ProMos, and Winbond, will total an estimated $2.4 billion in capital spending this year.

According to a project sponsored by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the domestic semiconductor production value should climb 31% in 2004 to $32.4 billion, with more than 20% annual growth in the design, foundry, and packaging/testing segments.