FYI
Thursday April 2, 4:10 am Eastern Time
Taiwan says US punitive duties won't hurt exports
By Lawrence Chung
TAIPEI, April 2 (Reuters) - Taiwan on Thursday expressed regret over a U.S. decision to impose anti-dumping duties on the island's static random access memory (SRAM) computer chips, but said the move would not hurt semiconductor exports.
''We regret that the United States has decided to impose the duties against our SRAM products,'' Economics Minister Wang Chih-kang told reporters in Taipei.
''But because of the fact that both output and exports (of SRAM) to the United States are limited, the decision would not create any substantial harm to our semiconductor industry,'' Wang said.
Wang blamed different calculation criteria on the chip's production cost for Washington's decision to impose the anti-dumping duties against Taiwan's SRAM producers, and vowed to help local manufacturers apply for re-examination of the case by U.S. judicial authorities.
The U.S. International Trade Commission on Wednesday ordered imposition of anti-dumping duties ranging from 7.59 percent to 113.85 percent against SRAM imports from Taiwan, beginning April 8.
It said Taiwan's dumping of SRAMs in the United States has hurt U.S. industry.
The news triggered a mild sell-off against Taiwan chip firms on Thursday, driving the island's benchmark stock index to a 0.31-percent downturn.
Taiwan's Board of Foreign Trade officials said Taiwan manufacturers can apply for a review of the case at the U.S. international trade tribunal.
Officials said Taiwan's SRAM export accounts for a five-percent market share in the United States.
The U.S. consumes about US$1.5 billion worth of SRAMs a year and imports are mostly from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
Among the firms facing penalties are Taiwan's leading chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (2303.TW), which received a punitive tariff of 93.87 percent, and another chipmaker Winbond Electronics (2344.TW), levied 102.88 percent.
TI-Acer, a former joint venture between computer giant Acer Inc (2306.TW) and Texas Instruments (TXN - news) now under the full control of Acer, was levied a 113.85 percent tariff.
United Mircoelectronics and Winbond on Thursday said the decision was unfair to them, but would not affect their businesses.
They said SRAMs constitute only a tiny fraction of their sales revenue and would not threaten their profit outlook.
''Our major business is the customer-specific wafer manufacturing. Our SRAM production is very limited, and sales of such products to the United States are even smaller,'' an executive of United Mircoelectronics said.
He said all the company's SRAM chips are produced in line with the requirements of downstream U.S. buyers.
Winbond officials said their sophisticated technology in producing eight-inch wafer products has reduced SRAM production cost, and it is unfair for the United States to impose punitive tariffs because of superior technology by foreign firms.
''We will cooperate with other chip manufacturers to seek legal aid at the U.S. judicial system to override the decision,'' an executive of Winbond said.
Analysts estimate United Microelectronics and Winbond rely on the U.S. market for less than three percent and one percent of their respective SRAM sales.
Taiwan makers produce most of their SRAMs -- costly, high-powered chips that are part of a computer's data storage systems -- not for direct sale but for attachment to computer motherboards, which are then sold as complete units.
SRAMs on motherboards are unaffected by the U.S. complaint.
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