Entegris Inc, a supplier of advanced materials and process solutions for the semiconductor and other high-technology industries, yesterday held an opening ceremony in Kaohsiung for its largest manufacturing facility that would produce advanced products such as liquid filters that can be used in 2-nanometer process technology.
The US-based company expects to recruit more than 400 employees for the new facility by 2025, when the US$500 million plant becomes fully operational. The company employs 720 people in Taiwan.
The Kaohsiung factory is forecast to generate US$500 million per year when it is fully utilized, the company said.
Photo: Su Fu-nan, Taipei Times
There is potential for the company to further expand and invest in land adjacent to the fab, it said.
Entegris said it would not scale back investment on research-and-development efforts, nor on capital spending during downturns.
It also operates a research-and-development center in Hsinchu.
“Our new Kaohsiung facility demonstrates our commitment to serving our customers in Asia and supporting the local industry ecosystem,” Entegris chief executive officer Bertrand Loy said. “The expansion of our footprint here helps us provide greater supply security and shorter lead times to customers across the region.”
The Kaohsiung facility is expected to add 20 percent capacity for three major products, including advanced liquid filters, the company said.
Regarding whether Entegris factored in the geopolitical risks in building an advanced factory in Taiwan, Loy said: “There is a lot of nervousness around that... The grand opening of our Kaohsiung facility, it is really a statement of the company’s commitment” to Taiwan.
“We want to be adequately positioned to support our customers in Taiwan and their ecosystem,” Loy said.
Entegris counts Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) as one of its largest customers in Taiwan.
The new Kaohsiung fab is to produce Entegris’ next-generation products for TSMC and its customers in Taiwan, the company said.
The liquid filters made at the fab can be used in 28-nanometer nodes and can be further miniaturized for 5-nanometer, 3-nanometer and 2-nanometer technology nodes, which extreme ultraviolet lithography tools would use, Entegris said.
The company expects the global semiconductor industry would touch bottom this quarter, Loy said.
However, the pace of recovery remains to be seen, he added.
Entegris has been working with local customers and partners in the ecosystem for the past 32 years, during which Taiwan’s semiconductor industry has expanded at an annual compound growth rate of 16 percent, the company said.
Taiwan, in particular, has a dominant position in the world, with a 65 percent market share, it added.
Taiwan would remain in the same international network for carrying out cross-border payments and would not be marginalized on the world stage, despite jostling among international powers, central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) said yesterday. Yang made the remarks during a speech at an annual event organized by Financial Information Service Co (財金資訊), which oversees Taiwan’s banking, payment and settlement systems. “The US dollar will remain the world’s major cross-border payment tool, given its high liquidity, legality and safe-haven status,” Yang said. Russia is pushing for a new cross-border payment system and highlighted the issue during a BRICS summit in October. The existing system
Convenience store operator Lawson Inc has registered trademarks in Taiwan, sparking rumors that the Japanese chain is to enter the local market. The company on Aug. 30 filed trademarks for the names Lawson and Lawson Station, according to publicly available information from the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Intellectual Property Office. The product categories on the application include some of Lawson’s top-selling items for use in the convenience store market. The discovery has led to speculation online that the popular Japanese chain is to enter the Taiwanese market. However, some pointed out that it might be a preemptive application to avoid others from co-opting the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to grow its revenue by about 25 percent to a new record high next year, driven by robust demand for advanced technologies used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications and crypto mining, International Data Corp (IDC) said yesterday. That would see TSMC secure a 67 percent share of the world’s foundry market next year, from 64 percent this year, IDC senior semiconductor research manager Galen Zeng (曾冠瑋) predicted. In the broader foundry definition, TSMC would see its market share rise to 36 percent next year from 33 percent this year, he said. To address concerns
Intel Corp chief financial officer Dave Zinsner said that a formal separation of the company’s factory and product development divisions is an open question that would be decided by the chipmaker’s next leader. Zinsner, who is serving as interim co-CEO following this month’s ouster of Pat Gelsinger, made the remarks on Thursday at the Barclays technology conference in San Francisco alongside co-CEO Michelle Johnston Holthaus. Intel’s struggles to keep pace with rivals — along with its deteriorating financial condition — have spurred speculation that the next CEO would make dramatic changes. That has included talk of a split of the company’s manufacturing
RSS