GREAT NEWS....
Technology News
Mon, 27 Sep 1999, 3:41am EDT
Chipmakers in Taiwan Say They Expect to Return to Full Capacity This
Week
By Faith Hung
Taiwan's Chipmakers Expect to Resume Full Production This Week
Hsinchu, Taiwan, Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Taiwan Semiconductor
Manufacturing Co. and other Taiwan chipmakers, many of which supply
U.S. firms like Motorola Inc., expect to run at full capacity this
week after an earthquake six days ago disrupted production.
TSMC, the world's largest chipmaker to customer designs,
said electric power at Hsinchu Science-based Park, home of many
high-technology companies, has been fully restored since Sunday.
''Our output is recovering faster than we expected,'' said
Y. C. Huang, a TSMC vice president. ''None of our clients have
canceled orders because demand is at its peak for the year.''
Still, sales this month and October will fall because of the
power shortage, Huang said. TSMC plan to reveal the extent of its
decline in sales in ''a day or two,'' he said.
Many Taiwanese manufacturers halted production Tuesday as an
earthquake of at least magnitude 7.3 rattled the island, killing
more than 2000 people and disrupting power supplies.
TSMC said its two six-inch wafer plants and three eight-inch
factories are slated to return to pre-quake production levels
late this week. Up to 80 percent of the company's lines are
running now, Huang said.
Winbond Electronics Corp., which sells computer memory chips
to Toshiba Corp., also expects to resume full production this
week.
''Orders continue to flood in. We have to produce as much as
our clients need,'' said Hander Chang, an assistant vice
president. Chang said about half of Winbond's capacity is now
operational.
The fourth quarter is a traditional busy season for Taiwan's
electronics makers, as U.S. computer manufacturers and retailers
prepare for the Christmas shopping season.
Stocks of TSMC, Winbond and other chipmakers helped drag
down the main index by as much as 2.7 percent today to 7755.86,
its lowest level in six weeks. TSMC and Winbond were both limit-
down 3.5 percent, to NT$134.50 and NT$55.50 respectively. |
