Water Woes May Hasten Taiwan Exodus
Dry weather leads to unusually low water supply in Hsinchu
By Tom Muprhy -- Electronic News, 3/11/2002
e-insite.net
As the electronics manufacturing industry copes with a drought situation in Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (HSIP) in Taiwan, the real question is will corporate captains maintain their operations on the island or grow weary of the political squabbling that has delayed resolution of the issue and move their operations to mainland China?
While the Taiwanese government is reacting now to alleviate critical water supply shortages in the northern part of the country, its inability to act sooner may spark off a huge exodus to China, according to Iris Huang, an analyst with iSuppli Corp. of El Segundo, Calif.
Both United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) have said the lack of rain in recent months would not disrupt their production, and they are confident that plans for future infrastructure improvements will maintain a stable water supply for their foundry operations. Despite these actions, water consumption at the industrial complex continues to grow by 25 percent a year.
Both UMC and TSMC say they have developed contingency plans to deal with water shortages if seasonal rains don't start by the end of this month as predicted.
Huang estimated that the HSIP, located near Taipei, has about a 50-day supply of water to serve its tenants. Both UMC and TSMC have their headquarters in the park as well as other semiconductor and LCD manufacturers. The Taiwanese government will act to take farmland out of production and transfer the water supply to the HSIP.
But according to Huang, some manufacturers are not pleased with the government's inability to act sooner to alleviate the water supply situation. Although weather forecasts predicted dry weather at the beginning of February, the government has acted only recently to bring about a solution, Huang said. |
