TSMC mulls solar fab; lines up $3.8 bn capex

SAN JOSE: Reports have come in that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) has approved a plan to invest about $3.8 billion. This investment will include activities which will increase its R&D spending, and also bring some funding in China and build a solar fab.

Sources say that TSMC has approved a hike in its R&D funding for 2010 and for sustaining capital appropriation to $678.73 million from the previous amount of $534.63 million.

TSMC has also approved capital appropriations of $1,972.3 billion to expand advanced process technology capacity at its 300-mm plants. It also approved capital appropriations of $369 million to help continue construction of Fab 15. Capital appropriations of $258.1 million have also been approved to provide specialty technology capacity; $319.6 million to develop new businesses, including $101.6 million for a LED production line and $218 million to construct a fab for the production of thin-film solar photovoltaic modules has also been approved.

The new 300-mm Fab 15, is located in Taichung’s Central Taiwan Science Park and is set to be TSMC’s third Gigafab, or fab with capacity of more than 100,000 12-inch wafers per month. Construction will be divided into four phases, and total investment over the next several years is expected to exceed NT$300 billion ($9.32 billion).

The company has recently reported net income of NT$40.28 billion (about $960 million) on consolidated revenue of NT$104.96 billion (about $2.51 billion) for the second quarter that ended June 30. Sales were up sequentially by 13.9 percent and up 41.4 percent year-over-year while net income increased 64.8 percent.