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Technology Stocks : Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (155)	10/30/2001 9:55:51 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

TSMC to Invest NT$700 Bln. Locally in Next Decade: Morris Chang October 30, 2001 (TAIPEI) -- Morris Chang, chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., said his company would inevitably have to set up plants in China or other countries in the future to take advantage of the global trade flow. However, he said the company would never uproot its research and development and core operation centers from Taiwan. As an sign of its determination to remain in Taiwan, TSMC announced that it intends to invest NT$700 billion to construct six new 12-inch wafer plants in Taiwan, including its fourteenth plant in Tainan Science-based Industrial Park. It did not give a concrete timetable for the plants' construction. TSMC invested NT$260 billion in Taiwan between 1997 and 2001. (NT$34.54 = US$1) During a briefing with President Chen Shui-bian on his visit to TSMC's sixth plant in Tainan Science-Based Industrial Park, Chang said TSMC would not waver in its determination to press ahead with the construction of more plants. Since 1997, TSMC has been actively seeking large amounts of land suitable for its plants in its attempts to expand production. One such site was found in the Tainan Science-based Industrial Park for TSMC's first 8-inch wafer plant, which started mass production in 1999. So far, the chairman said, Tainan Science-based Industrial Park was still prioritized as the company's most important production base in its global operations network. "However, in order not to lose our commanding position as the world's top semiconductor contract manufacturing company, TSMC will have no option but to set up plants wherever it thinks it is marketable and profitable," Chang said. TSMC President Tseng Fan-chen revealed TSMC would probably set up plants in China from 2004 onwards. While continuing to run plants in Taiwan, the United States, Singapore, and eventually China, TSMC would nevertheless keep its core operations and research and development centers in Taiwan, Chang insisted. As far as the company's plans for building its first 12-inch wafer plant in the Tainan Science-based Industrial Park were concerned, Chang admitted that construction had been delayed because of disputes over the level of vibration caused by high-speed trains passing close to the park. Without an assessment of the likely effect of the vibration on the plant's facilities, TSMC temporarily decided to suspend construction of the plant. In order to study the effects of vibration in greater depth, TSMC formed a task force earlier this year, which spent six months from March to September conducting an investigation. It concluded that the vibrations caused by the high-speed railway beside the Tainan Science-based Industrial Park would not affect facilities and production in TSMC's 12-inch wafer plant if suitable engineering precautions were taken, bolstering the company's confidence to continue with plant construction and increase investment in the area. (Commercial Times, Taiwan)