Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) announced on February 2 that it has spent nearly NT$6 billion (US$187.18 million) for front-end equipment procurement, cleanroom facilities and factory building construction. Faced with a better 2010, TSMC has sped up capacity expansion at its 12-inch (300mm) facilities.
So far in 2010, TSMC has disclosed to the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) 19 items of spendings on production equipment and fab construction with a total transaction value of around NT$15 billion.
TSMC recently announced it has completed the fifth-phase construction at its 12-inch Fab 12 at the Hsinchu Science Park (HSP), with volume production slated to kick off in the third quarter of 2010.
TSMC said at its investors conference last week that the company aims to achieve a gross margin of 46-49% from its 40nm process at the end of 2010, which would be similar to the company's overall level. It also expects 28nm to bring in a solid contribution to its 2011 financial results.
In addition, TSMC revealed plans to kick off construction of a new factory building at its 12-inch fab (Fab 14, Phase 4) in southern Taiwan after the Lunar New Year holidays, with equipment move-in scheduled for year-end 2010.
According to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), the global semiconductor industry will return to a growth track in 2010 following a 9% drop in 2009.
| TSE: TSMC expenditures on equipment and fab construction, 2010 (NT$) | ||
| Date | Supplier | Amount |
| 4-Jan | ASML | 558,840,480 |
| Teradyne | 680,780,884 | |
| Asyst Technologies | 808,364,900 | |
| United Information Systems (UIS) | 1,216,400,177 | |
| Chenfull Intl. | 593,144,544 | |
| 6-Jan | Axcelis Technology | 531,433,100 |
| 8-Jan | Olympus Corp. | 508,986,055 |
| 11-Jan | Applied Materials | 629,082,192 |
| 12-Jan | Tokyo Electron | 871,498,900 |
| 15-Jan | ASML | 1,124,628,043 |
| 25-Jan | Applied Materials | 504,048,524 |
| 26-Jan | China Steel Structure Company | 902,500,000 |
| Gold Stone Development | 512,107,980 | |
| 2-Feb | ASML | 1,391,860,335 |
| UIS | 778,372,704 | |
| Nuflare Technology | 614,980,000 | |
| Nikon | 706,972,000 | |
| KLA-Tencor | 763,195,920 | |
| Dacin Construction | 1,438,900,000 | |
| Total | 15,136,096,738 | |
Source: Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE), compiled by Digitimes, February 2010
Article translated by Jessie Shen
