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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Demosthenes who wrote (40460)	12/5/2000 9:46:22 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 70976

This has not yet been announced, and last time I heard the utilization rate at TSMC was 96%+...... TSMC Reduces 2001 Capital Investment Plans, UMC Holds Steady December 5, 2000 (TAIPEI) -- According to a survey by Solomon Smith Barney, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. will lower its capital investments by 10 percent to 15 percent in 2001 in an effort to reduce the adverse effects of the industry's retrenchment. Responding to the influential investment agency's report, TSMC President Tseng Fan-cheng said that the company was indeed considering lower capital investments for the coming year in order to preserve this year's profits and avoid possible shareholder losses. As Taiwan's wafer foundries are expected to be unable to work to their full operating capacity in 2001, TSMC intends to spend less on capital investment next year than it did this year, while United Microelectronics Corp. plans to keep its capital expenditure for 2001 at the same level as this year. Tseng said the recovery of the semiconductor industry will depend on market demand next spring. UMC's President Hsueh Ming-chih said he remains cautious but optimistic about the industry's prospects for 2001. TSMC has spent US$3.8 billion to US$3.9 billion on capital investments so far this year. Including its investments in U.S. WaferTech, Vanguard International Semiconductor Co., Ltd., and Singapore-based SSMC, TSMC will have spent almost US$5 billion on capital investment by the end of the year. Worldwide, only Intel Corp. has invested a higher amount. Tseng said TSMC would continue to build one new wafer fab plant each year in accordance with its present expansion plan, but the timing of installing equipment in these fabs will depend on the market's mood. He said the recovery of the semiconductor industry next year would continue to depend on the global demand for PCs and mobile phones, and the state of the U.S. economy. (Commercial Times, Taiwan)