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To: niek who wrote (1331)	1/2/2007 3:18:25 AM
From: niek	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 43529

TSMC plans five new advanced wafer plants Tue Jan 2, 2007 TAIPEI, Jan 2 (Reuters) - TSMC plans to build five new advanced 12-inch wafer plants on the island in the next few years, a local newspaper said on Tuesday, after a government move to allow companies to make more advanced chips in China. On the plants' completion, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC), the world's top contract chip maker, would have a total of seven 12-inch factories in Taiwan, the Economic Daily News quoted unidentified officials at the economics ministry as saying. A chip plant costs about $2 billion to $3 billion. Photo Officials at the economics ministry were not available for comment. J.H. Tzeng, a TSMC spokesman, declined to confirm or deny the report, only saying that "TSMC has said it would continue to invest in Taiwan and has plans to build more plants". TSMC has said its 2007 capital spending budget will be slightly higher than the $2.6 billion set for 2006, Tzeng said. No dollar estimates were given yet. While TSMC and other contract chip makers are suffering from high inventories caused by slower-than-expected demand for personal computers and some consumer products, analysts say the foundry industry might hit bottom early this year. By around noon, TSMC's Taipei-listed shares had risen 0.44 percent to T$67.80, lagging the main TAIEX share index's 1.26 percent gain. In 2009, there will be a total of 18 12-inch wafer factories in Taiwan, including new fabs built by memory chip makers, the Chinese-language newspaper said. Taiwan on Friday approved an investment revision that allows local chip makers to export more advanced technology to China to boost competition and manufacturing efficiency, but chip makers would still make chips using cutting-edge technology in Taiwan. TSMC currently has one 8-inch wafer plant in Shanghai. Taiwan and China have been ruled separately since the end of a civil war in 1949, with the Taipei government restricting investment in the sensitive high-end tech sector on concerns about the island's economy becoming over-reliant on the mainland.