TSMC to Seek Govt Approval for Its First China Plant (Update1)
By Alan Patterson
quote.bloomberg.com
Hsinchu, Taiwan, May 29 (Bloomberg) -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said it will seek the Taiwan government's permission as early as July to build its first chip plant in China, aiming to tap the world's third-largest market for semiconductors.
``We selected a site, which we will announce once we receive approval from the government,'' company spokesman J.H. Tzeng said, confirming an Economic Daily News report that cited Tseng Fan- chen, TSMC's chief executive officer.
TSMC, the world's biggest made-to-order chipmaker, earlier said it may start production at a plant in China as early as the end of next year. The company will equip the plant with old production equipment that makes 8-inch silicon wafers, the material from which chips are cut.
The Taiwan government revised rules this year, allowing local chipmakers that invest in newer 12-inch wafer plants on the island to move some of their older production equipment to China. TSMC would be the first chipmaker in Taiwan to start operations on the mainland.
TSMC plans to build the plant in Songjiang, near Shanghai, the paper reported.
The Taiwan government has restricted investment by local chipmakers in China on concerns that the island will lose jobs and its largest source of export revenue to the mainland. |
