South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co could never take over Taiwan’s tech industries on its own, because of the electronics industry’s diverse nature, Acer Inc (宏碁) chairman and chief executive J.T. Wang (王振堂) said yesterday.
Wang made the remarks in response to a report published by local Chinese-language magazine Business Today on Wednesday, according to which Samsung’s management decided to launch a “kill Taiwan” project in a meeting held after the industry started recovering from the global financial crisis in 2008 and 2009.
The report cited a Taiwanese former Samsung official.
The project aims to drive Taiwanese companies in the PC DRAM sector, LCD panel sector and contract chipmaking sector out of the market, the report said.
“It is impossible” for Samsung to put this project into effect, Wang said.
“The [technology] world is very diverse, consisting of various needs for different products, and different groups of consumers with various preferences,” Wang told reporters on the sidelines of a forum on corporate social responsibility held by Acer in Taipei yesterday.
“No individual company can handle it all,” Wang said. “It is impossible for Samsung to take over Taiwan’s industries.”
Wang added that he doubted the report was true in any case.
Over the past four years, Samsung has gradually forced Taiwanese PC DRAM makers to exit the market and took market share away from Taiwan’s LCD panel makers and mobile phone brand HTC Corp (宏達電), the report said.
HTC lost some market share several years ago because of a short supply of high-resolution displays. Suppliers preferred Samsung over HTC at a time when the supply of high-resolution AMOLED screens was very limited, according to the report.
It added that Samsung is now targeting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (鴻海精密), which makes iPhones and iPads for Apple Inc.
“Samsung is a formidable competitor,” TSMC chairman and chief executive Morris Chang (張忠謀) told reporters. “We will be well-prepared for it.”
Samsung was on his radar several years ago when the South Korean company expanded into the contract chipmaking business.
Samsung is the world’s biggest maker of memory chips and TVs, and is expected to overtake Nokia as the world’s top handset maker this year.
“I’m very optimistic about the company’s [TSMC’s] operations in the short term, medium term and long term,” Chang said.
Continued capacity expansion and increased research and development on DRAM, panels and key components used in smartphones forced Taiwanese and Japanese firms to retreat from those tough markets during the past five years, the report said.
According to the report, the targets of Samsung’s “kill Taiwan” project would include Japanese chipmaker Elpida Memory Inc, as well as Taiwanese panel makers AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), Innolux Corp (群創光電) and Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管).
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
CONSISTENT COMMITMENT: The American Institute in Taiwan director said that the US would expand investment and trade relationships to make both nations more prosperous The US would not abandon its commitment to Taiwan, and would make Taiwan safer, stronger and more prosperous, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said. “The US’ commitment to Taiwan has been consistent over many administrations and over many years, and we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan, including our opposition to any attempt to use force or coercion to change Taiwan’s status,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Friday last week, which was published in the Chinese-language newspaper yesterday. The US would double down on its efforts
RSS