Some good news, Stan.
TSMC plans investing one billion dollars in China in four years
sg.news.yahoo.com
Wednesday October 30, 3:43 PM
The world's largest contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) plans to invest one billion US dollars in China in four years, a company spokesman said.
TSMC has applied for permission from Taiwanese authorities to build an eight-inch microchip wafer plant in Shanghai, eyeing the booming mainland market.
"We do not rule out the possibility of allotting more capital to China above the one billion dollars during the four-year period," the spokesman said Wednesday.
"Of course, the investment plan will not go ahead without a green light from the government," he added.
The company plans to set up a fully-owned subsidiary, TSMC (Shanghai) Corp., to manage the wafer plant planned at Songjiang Science Park in Shanghai, he said.
TSMC is the first Taiwanese chipmaker to sign a deal with Shanghai authorities after Taipei earlier this year conditionally lifted a ban on eight-inch wafer plant investments on the mainland.
Local chipmakers are now permitted to build up to three eight-inch wafer plants in China by the end of 2005 but only if they use phased out production equipment from Taiwan.
TSMC's Shanghai subsidiary will have a payroll of 1,000 employees and the plant will have a monthly production capacity of 35,000 eight-inch wafers using 0.25 micron technology to provide foundry services to the mainland market.
In the third quarter, TSMC posted 3.16 billion Taiwan dollars (90.8 million US) in net profit, down sharply from 9.31 billion dollars in the second quarter, amid a slowdown in the global high tech industry.
TSMC expects the wafer chip business to bottom out in the following two quarters. |
