TSMC held a shareholders' meeting on the 5th. In addition to clarifying shareholders' doubts about the recent disturbances caused by the Sino-US trade war, it also clarified that all shipments are in accordance with the law, and policies remain unchanged. But the more important n

Core Technology News (Text/Fang Zhongtong) TSMC responds to the issue of American manufacturing. Could this issue come true? TSMC html held a shareholders' meeting on the 25th. In addition to clarifying shareholders' doubts about the recent turmoil of the Sino-US trade war, it also clarified that all shipments are in accordance with the law, policies remain unchanged, etc., but the more important information is that Chairman Liu Deyin will go to the United States next month to attend " At the "Choose America" ​​Investment Summit, TSMC had a relatively ambiguous attitude towards setting up factories in the United States in the past. This time, Liu Deyin's attitude seems to suggest that there is further consideration in this direction.

Liu Deyin said on the 5th that he would personally attend the "Choose America" ​​investment summit held in the United States, and said that he would consider building new factories in the United States or acquiring local semiconductor factories. Although he emphasized that the main investment is still in Taiwan, TSMC "U.S. The topic of "manufacturing" is probably an important issue to pay attention to TSMC trends after the second half of the year.

Liu Deyin explained that in the past, people would be sent to attend the "Choose America" ​​Investment Summit every year, but this year he will participate in person. He explained that he mainly hopes that will understand the United States 's views on the trade war, and only 5 or 60 people will participate in this summit. One of the Taiwanese delegations is "a routine event every year and has nothing to do with Huawei's inclusion on the trade blacklist by the United States."

In fact, TSMC has not only a technical team but also a factory in the United States, with about 1,000 local employees. Multiple people. Looking back more than 2 years ago, when President Trump was about to take office, the topic of American manufacturing attracted global attention. Many major international manufacturers, such as Hon Hai, SoftBank, etc., were forced to express their opinions, especially TSMC. When planning a 3-nanometer factory, it is certainly one of the targets being pursued by the outside world.

At TSMC 's first press conference in early 2017, founder Zhang Zhongmou, who had not yet retired at the time, expressed to the outside world that because Taiwan's technology industry has the advantage of clustering and the supply chain is complete upstream and downstream, there were no plans to expand factories in the United States at that time. . However, Zhang Zhongmou still had a caveat at the time. He mentioned that if customers pressured TSMC to set up factories in the United States, TSMC would not reject it.

Zhang Zhongmou said at the time that Trump’s “Made in America” policy was mainly aimed at increasing job opportunities. He also analyzed that TSMC is manufacturing in Taiwan, not because of the labor cost, because the salary cost of TSMC hiring employees in Taiwan is not lower than that in the United States. The main reason is that Taiwan has good industrial clusters, forming a one-day work circle, but Compared with Taiwan, it may not be possible in New York City, the largest city in the United States.

Zhang Zhongmou pointed out that TSMC can indeed go to the United States to set up factories for manufacturing due to customer demand, but it must be with sufficient incentives for both customers and TSMC itself. Otherwise, US production may not be beneficial to TSMC .

However, observing what Liu Deyin said this time, he admitted that the number of employee unions in American factories is "slowly increasing", but at this stage, there is still no cost-effective solution and no specific plan. He hopes that if the investment cost in the United States can be reduced to Same as Taiwan.

Liu Deyin emphasized that the company will continue to expand investment in Taiwan and focus on independent research and development, and semiconductors are a global industry. They can not only be transported by air, but are still tax-free without the interference of the trade war. There is no difference in supply to the whole world and far away, and there is no need to rely on The factory is located at the customer's location.

However, as the trade war heats up, the downstream technology industry continues to express its intention to reflect costs in end products. Coupled with rising geopolitical risks, the cost factors considered by TSMC are gradually no longer critical. This This time Liu Deyin revealed that TSMC was only one of the 50 or 60 people who went to the United States to participate in the "Choose America" ​​Investment Summit, but would the other members be in the supply chain to eliminate concerns about industrial clusters and have American citizenship? Liu De and Yin also participated in the event in person, making this trend even more bizarre. (Proofreading/ICE)