Taiwan Chip Industry Powers the Tech World, but Struggles for Status

Posted on October 1, 2013 by

Photo Credit: The New York TimesTien Wu, chief operating officer of Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, has a problem: the brightest young people in Taiwan do not want to work in the island’s signature business, chip making.

“All the college freshmen are asking, ‘Why should I join the industry? I’d rather work for Facebook, Apple or Google,’ ” Mr. Wu said in an interview.

Taiwan, an island of 23 million people, is the world’s biggest chip maker. The industry generated about $63 billion in sales here last year — more than one-fifth of the global total, according to the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association. Made-in-Taiwan chips are major components in many of the world’s PCs, smartphones, cameras and other gadgets. Read More

TSMC Forecasts Tepid Q3

Posted on July 18, 2013 by

Foundry chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. has said that demand for its wafers will “moderate” in the third quarter after it reported record sales and profits for 2Q13. Third-quarter sales are set to be up between 3.3 and 5.2 percent from Q2, TSMC announced along with its financial result for 2Q13.

TSMC made a record-breaking net income of NT$51.81 billion (about US$1.73 billion) on record consolidated revenue of NT$155.89 billion (about $5.2 billion) in the second quarter of 2013.

Year-over-year the quarterly revenue was up 21.6 percent while it was up 17.4 percent compared with 1Q13. This is an exceptionally large increase for Q2 sequential growth at TSMC but was expected, being just above the mid-point of previous forecast. In US dollar terms the Q2 revenue increased 15.9 percent from the previous quarter and increased 20.7 percent year-over-year. Read More

Taiwan remains big semiconductor player in 2012

Posted on September 4, 2012 by

Taiwan will remain among the world’s leading semiconductor markets this year in terms of equipment and material spending, a global industry association said Tuesday.

The Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) has forecast stable growth in the global integrated circuit (IC) industry, where equipment spending is predicted to grow 2.6 percent to US$42.4 billion this year and to US$46.7 billion next year.

Material consumption in 2011 totaled US$47.9 billion and the figure is set to rise to US$49.2 billion this year, according to the association.

Over the past few years, Taiwan’s foundry operators have spent more on equipment and materials than vendors anywhere else in the world, establishing the island as the world’s most important IC market, said Clark Tseng, a senior manager of SEMI Taiwan.

“The global equipment and materials markets were robust in 2011 and 2012,” he told a pre-show press conference prior to SEMICON Taiwan, a global semiconductor trade show slated for Sept. 5-7 in Taipei.

“Taiwan meanwhile is expected to spend over US$9 billion on equipment in both 2012 and 2013, underscoring the island’s leadership status in the global IC market,” the Hsinchu-based analyst said. Read More

Taiwan Semiconductor Plans to Invest $1.4 Billion in ASML

Posted on August 6, 2012 by

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (2330) agreed to invest 1.11 billion euros ($1.4 billion) in ASML Holding NV (ASML), joining Intel (INTC) (INTC) Corp. in taking a stake in Europe’s largest chip-equipment maker to secure future technology.

TSMC will acquire a 5 percent equity holding in Veldhoven, Netherlands-based ASML for 838 million euros and invest a further 276 million euros in research and development of next- generation lithography technologies, ASML said.

The purchase will give TSMC access to machines under development that will reduce manufacturing costs and that the Dutch company says may prompt consolidation in the industry. Intel, the world’s biggest chipmaker, agreed to invest as much as $4.1 billion last month in ASML’s so-called co-investment program to fund innovation.

The investment is “long-term positive for TSMC,” Patrick Liao and Jason Ho, technology analysts at Nomura Holdings Inc., said in a note today. The investment implies TSMC will have “joint intellectual property rights of the critical lithography research and development in the future.” Read More