Chip giant TSMC determined to ‘keep roots in Taiwan’

HSINCHU, Taiwan—Semiconductor giant TSMC said it was determined to “keep its roots in Taiwan” as it launched a massive facility in the island’s north on Friday geared towards developing the world’s most cutting-edge microchips.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company controls more than half of the world’s output of microchips, which are the lifeblood of the modern global economy, powering everything from coffee machines and smartphones to cars and missiles.

Like the new research and development facility, much of TSMC’s manufacturing base is in the northern city of Hsinchu, where its state-of-the-art facilities are producing ever-smaller silicon wafers that have skyrocketed in demand, especially due to the recent boom in AI-related technology.

At the Friday launch of the R&D fa- cility, chairman Mark Liu said the center would “develop world-leading technologies in the semiconductor industry more actively to explore two-nanometer and 1.4-nanometer technology, and even smaller”.

The company is racing to begin mass production of a 1.4-nanometre chip— tinier than a fraction of a fingernail— ahead of its rival Samsung, the world’s second-largest producer. Its production lines have expanded beyond Taiwan as Western powers have raised concerns about the crucial industry being centered on an island that China claims as its territory -- having ramped up political and military pressure on it over the past year.

But CEO C.C. Wei said Friday that TSMC intended to keep the heart of its technological prowess in Taiwan.

“We want to use this opportunity to show Taiwanese people TSMC’s determination to keep its roots in Taiwan,” Wei said during the inauguration, which was attended by Taiwan’s premier as well as TSMC founder Morris Chang.

“We have heard voices expressing concerns about whether TSMC is moving its focus abroad and whether TSMC is halting its development in Taiwan. We have to say ‘no’,” he continued.

“With the opening of the global R&D centre, we are telling Taiwanese people our roots will remain in Taiwan.”

A planned Arizona plant -- one of the largest foreign investments in the United States -- is currently delayed until 2025 due to a shortage of skilled workers, a blow to the White House’s plans to bring more chip production to the US. TSMC has said they are sending over Taiwanese technicians to help train the foundry’s staff. AFP home owing to better returns.

“It’s worth noting that Japanese investors have already sold a significant amount of foreign fixed income and have cash in dollars and foreign currencies that are waiting to be invested,” said Stephen Innes, of SPI Asset Management.

“This means that Japanese investors are currently underweight in Japanese government bonds and yen. As a result, there is a high possibility of a significant flow of funds being repatriated back into yen and invested in fixed income,” he added.

A decision late last year by the BoJ to widen the band within which it allows bonds to move sent shudders through markets and sent the yen soaring. With AFP

BoJ allows ‘greater flexibility’, imposes yield curve control

TOKYO, Japan—The Bank of Japan on Friday eased its grip on its ultraloose monetary policy in a small step towards normalization as inflation accelerates and the yen comes under pressure against other major currencies.

The central bank has for years embarked on a process known as yield curve control where it allows government bonds to move in a narrow band as part of a drive to boost the longstruggling economy.

However, after a closely watched meeting, it said it would allow “greater flexibility” in the market as it hiked its inflation forecast for the current fiscal year.

Still, officials said it did not mean the bank was abandoning its monetary policy -- which analysts have warned was looking increasingly unsustainable -- saying it would maintain its massive asset-buying measures.

Ten-year JGB yields would be allowed to “fluctuate in the range of around plus and minus 0.5 percentage points from the target level”, the bank said in a statement.

But it will “conduct yield curve control with greater flexibility regarding the upper and lower bounds of the range as references, not as rigid limits”, the bank said.

“The Bank will offer to purchase 10year JGBs at 1.0 percent every business day through fixed-rate purchase operations,” it added.

Market expectations fluctuated in the lead up to the meeting over whether the bank would tinker with its signature stimulus policies after the two-day meeting chaired by governor Kazuo Ueda, who took the helm in April.

“Allowing greater flexibility in YCC will help us respond to fluctuation risks more expeditiously, improve the sustainability of monetary loosening and realise the two percent inflation target in a stable and sustainable manner that comes with wage increases,” Ueda told a press conference. AFP