The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday said it plans to ease regulations on China-bound investments in 12-inch wafer foundries, allowing Taiwanese semiconductor companies to wholly own 12-inch plants in China.
“The relaxed regulations will help Taiwanese companies, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to fortify their position in the expanding Chinese market,” Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) told a press conference.
Under current regulations, Taiwanese firms are allowed to invest in 12-inch chip plants in China only via merger and acquisition or by doing so jointly with other companies.
Photo: CNA
Shen said TSMC had approached the Executive Yuan and the ministry several times to urge the government to ease the China-bound investment requirements, after major semiconductor companies like Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co set up 12-inch plants there.
In addition, Beijing is planning to raise 120 billion yuan (US$18.75 billion) to foster its semiconductor industry over the next few years, which poses a great threat to Taiwan’s semiconductor industry in the long term, he said.
“We forecast China’s semiconductor industry to account for 31 percent of global market share by 2018,” Shen said. “It is necessary for Taiwan to amend the regulations to help local semiconductor firms secure a share of the Chinese market as soon as possible.”
“As Taiwanese panel makers failed to secure market share in China, we cannot let Taiwan’s semiconductor industry face the same dire situation,” he added.
Based on the proposed regulatory amendments, Taiwanese semiconductor companies can wholly own up to three 12-inch plants in China, with the proposed investment in wafer technologies required to be one generation less advanced than the company’s most advanced technology.
Shen said the ministry would also request local companies to invest in research and development in more advanced semiconductor technologies in Taiwan. They are also to be required to purchase materials from Taiwan, he said.
The new regulations, which are under administrative review, could take effect at the end of this month at the earliest following the Executive Yuan’s approval, Shen said.
Investment Commission acting executive secretary Emile Chang (張銘斌) said it would take two months for the commission to review companies’ investment applications.
TSMC spokesperson Elizabeth Sun (孫又文) yesterday said the company is still evaluating the possibility of Chinese investment.
“The deregulation is a positive factor for the company in considering a Chinese investment plan” in the future, Sun said by telephone.
The relaxation is to provide better protection for Taiwanese firms’ intellectual property rights and trade secrets as long as they can operate a 100 percent-owned Chinese unit, Sun said.
China contributed 8 percent of TSMC’s overall revenue of NT$205.44 billion (US$6.35 billion) last quarter.
The company currently operates an 8-inch factory in Shanghai, with annual capacity of 100,000 wafers.
TSMC chairman Morris Chang (張忠謀) early this year said that the company is considering making 28-nanometer chips in China.
Industrial Technology Research Institute (工研院) semiconductor industry analyst Jerry Peng (彭茂榮) said operating a Chinese plant would help Taiwanese chipmakers fend off growing competition from their Chinese rivals.
However, only industry leaders with deep pockets like TSMC could afford a new 12-inch factory on their own in China, Peng said.
Taiwan’s United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) is building a 12-inch factory in China via a three-way venture with the Xiamen City Government and Fujian Electronics & Information Group (福建電子信息集團), while Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) has inked an agreement with Hefei Construction Investment and Holding Co Ltd (合肥市建設投資控股) to invest in a Chinese chipmaker to manufacture driver ICs for LCD TV panels at a new 12-inch plant.
Additional reporting by Lisa Wang
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS