Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) - größter EMS-Player der Welt

TSMC takes stake in CIGSS start-up Stion: plans module production with IP license
16 June 2010 | By Mark Osborne | News > Thin Film, CIGS


Hedging its bets in its move into the solar industry, leading semiconductor foundry TSMC will start producing CIGSS thin-film modules after taking a stake in Stion and a technology license. VentureTech Alliance, a TSMC affiliate, will invest US$50 million to take a 21% stake in Stion.

TSMC said it would provide a certain quantity of solar modules to Stion in return as well as partner on developing Stion’s process technology further. Late last year, TSMC invested US$193 million for a 20% stake in Motech Industries.

“Working with Stion, TSMC gains a robust thin-film technology with inherent low-cost structure,” noted Rick Tsai, TSMC’s president of new businesses.

“With TSMC’s R&D capabilities and manufacturing expertise, we believe we can achieve long-term overall leadership in solar PV solutions, and we are happy to be able to contribute to a greener economy.”

“The collaboration enables Stion to scale its operations, leverages both companies’ strengths to achieve market leadership and to deliver on the promise of efficient, affordable solar energy,” commented Chet Farris, president/CEO of Stion.

TSMC did not say when it would start production of the CIGSS thin film modules or whether a new plant would be built to house production.

With many thin film start-ups strapped for cash to take their technology from the lab to the fab, the move could mean that Stion is changing its business plans and outsourcing production and possibly developing an IP licensing model as well.

TSMC is gaining access and faster entry into the CIGS thin film arena, which holds the greatest promise to compete effectively with CdTe thin film leader First Solar.

...hatte ich schon wieder vergessen:

TSMC buys into Motech
09 December 2009 | By Mark Osborne | News > Cell Processing


The anticipated move by semiconductor foundry, TSMC into the solar industry has started with the purchase of a 20% stake in Motech Industries at a cost of approximately US$193 million. TSMC becomes the single largest shareholder in the company. Motech is Taiwan’s largest solar cell manufacturer. TSMC said that the investment in Motech would allow the foundry to enter the solar market faster than establishing its own operations and would now be better placed to evaluate its future solar strategy.

“We are delighted to partner with Motech in our pursuit of new opportunities in the high-growth solar sector,” commented Dr. Rick Tsai, President of TSMC New Businesses. “With the investment, TSMC intends to leverage Motech’s established platform to accelerate our time to market, better evaluate opportunities along the solar value chain, and further formulate our overall solar strategy.”

Dr. Simon Tsuo, Chairman and CEO of Motech“TSMC’s investment affirms Motech’s competitive position in the solar industry,” said Dr. Simon Tsuo, Chairman and CEO of Motech. “TSMC’s technology leadership and global management expertise would add significant value to Motech, as we strengthen supply chain integration and improve our operational efficiency. We plan to work closely with TSMC to address new business opportunities. We believe this partnership would further enhance Motech’s leadership position in the solar industry.”

Motech has been developing like many others, a vertical integration strategy that includes a majority investment in a polysilicon production plant operated by AE Polysilicon, which comes on stream soon, as well as ingot, through wafer and solar cell production. However, Motech also has plans to go further downstream and establish its own PV module production. The company has operations in both Taiwan and China.

The solar cell manufacturer has recently claimed average conversion efficiencies of more than 17.5% for its 5-inch mono-crystalline solar cells in volume production. Motech has targeted 18% conversion efficiencies by the end of 2010.

Motech is also expected to ship approximately 360MW of cells in 2009 and currently has a cell capacity approaching 600MW with plans to nearly double that capacity to between 800MW ~1GW in 2010.
With the TSMC investment and new strategic partner, capacity expansion plans as well as further moves to expand its business downstream could now be accelerated.

Dienstag, 20. Juli 2010

TSMC: Neue Gigafab für Chips kostet 9,3 Mrd. Dollar
Wirtschaft & Firmen

TSMC, der weltweit größte Auftragshersteller im Halbleiter-Segment, hat mit dem Bau einer riesigen neuen Fabrik begonnen. Diese soll Chips im 28-Nanometer-Verfahren produzieren.

Der Standort der "Gigafab" liegt in Taiwan und hat eine Größe von 18,4 Hektar. Wie das Unternehmen mitteilte, wird der Bau und die Einrichtung der Fertigungsanlage eine Investition in Höhe von 9,3 Milliarden Dollar erfordern. Etwa 15 Prozent fließen in den Bau an sich, der übrige Betrag in die benötigte Ausrüstung.

Zur Produktion von Chips werden dabei Reinräume mit einer Gesamtfläche von 104.000 Quadratmetern entstehen, was etwa 14 Fußballfeldern entspricht. Hier sollen monatlich rund 100.000 Wafer mit einem Durchmesser von 12 Zoll verarbeitet werden.

Dabei gilt es beim Aufbau einiges zu berücksichtigen. So müssen sich die Wafer-Zulieferer erst auf eine solch hohe zusätzliche Nachfrage einstellen. Deshalb wird die Gigafab auch schrittweise in Betrieb genommen. Bis sie unter Volllast fährt, werden wohl fünf bis sechs Jahre vergehen.

Mit dem Bau der großen Anlage will sich TSMC auf die zu erwartende Nachfrage in den kommenden Jahren einstellen. Das Unternehmen geht davon aus, dass zukünftig weit größere Kapazitäten benötigt werden, als es bisher je der Fall war.

GPM lands solar equipment order from TSMC, says paper


EDN; Jessie Shen, DIGITIMES [Friday 23 July 2010]

Taiwan-based Gallant Precision Machining (GPM) has reportedly secured NT$3 billion (US$93 million) worth of orders for equipment used to produce CIGS thin-film solar cells from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), according to a Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) report.

GPM has issued a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) clarifying it is not the source of the report, and declined to comment on the speculation.

TSMC recently signed a series of agreements with Stion under which Stion licenses and transfers its thin-film CIGS technology to TSMC, while TSMC will provide a quantity of solar modules to Stion using the technology.

GPM was quoted in previous reports saying the company is developing equipment for CIGS PV solar modules, and expects to unveil the machines in 2011.

GPM specializes in manufacturing equipment for LCD panels and IC packaging, and began to supply solutions for the solar energy sector at the end of 2007.

Updated Sunday, August 29, 2010 11:32 pm TWN, CNA
TSMC to build thin-film solar cell plant in September
TAIPEI -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest contract chip maker, announced Saturday that work on its first thin- film solar cell plant is expected to begin in September.

Rick Tsai, president of TSMC's new businesses division, said the new plant will focus on developing modules for copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film solar cells, after it entered the silicon solar cell sector by purchasing a 20 percent stake in Motech Industries Inc., Taiwan's biggest solar cell maker, in January.

Addressing the opening ceremony of a green job fair, Tsai also said machines and equipment will be installed in TSMC's LED research and development center and plant in Hsinchu beginning next month.

Construction on the plant began last March and mass production is expected in 2011.

TSMC has aggressively moved into the solar industry this year, not only becoming Motech's single largest shareholder, but also acquiring a 21-percent stake in U.S. solar photovoltaic company Stion in July to obtain thin-film solar cell technology.

Industry analysts believe that TSMC's main rival, United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), is ahead of TSMC in the thin-film solar cell market, as UMC established its own thin-film solar cell company NexPower Technology Corp. in 2005. NexPower has already entered mass production.

“TSMC believes that its past experience in developing semiconductor businesses will help speed its growth in the green energy industry,” said Tsai, who previously served as president and chief executive officer of TSMC from 2005 to 2009.

Tsai said TSMC is expected to recruit at least 500 people to help develop its green energy businesses in the next 12 months.

Meanwhile, Sino-American Silicon Products Inc., Taiwan's top maker of wafers for solar cells, also said at the job fair that it will increase its workforce from 2,400 to 6,000, in five years.

Sino-American Chairman Lu Ming-kuang said the company's consolidated revenues grew 80 percent year-on-year in the first six months of this year and predicted full-year revenues would surpass NT$21 billion, growing to NT$60 billion and then to NT$65 billion in 2015.

Taiwan Semiconductor to Spend $258 Million on Taichung Solar Cell Factory
By Tim Culpan - Sep 16, 2010 7:09 AM GMT+0200


Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest custom manufacturer of chips, will spend $258 million in the first phase of a plan to make solar modules as it turns to renewable energy to boost growth.

“The investments will ensure continued future revenue growth,” Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Morris Chang said today.

Taiwan Semiconductor will begin volume production at the plant in Taichung, central Taiwan, in 2012, with equipment to be moved in from April next year, the company said in a statement. The initial annual capacity of 200 megawatts will be increased in the second phase to 700 megawatts, and the facility will eventually employ 2,000 people, it said.

The company, which makes chips for Qualcomm Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc., is developing solar energy and light-emitting diodes to supplement growth from semiconductors. Global solar capacity demand will climb 23 percent annually to 2015, as the company targets long-term annual revenue growth of 10 percent.

Revenue and pre-tax profit will climb more than 40 percent this year and at least 10 percent next year as the company outgrows the global chip market, Chang said.

Global chip industry sales will expand 30 percent this year and 5 percent next year, Chang said. The company’s 10 percent long-term annual growth target compares with Chang’s earlier forecast for a 7 percent annual industrywide expansion.

TSMC fell 1 percent to NT$60.60 at 1:06 p.m. in Taipei.

Solar Modules

Taiwan Semiconductor announced in June it would buy 21 percent of San Jose-based Stion Corp. for $50 million to develop and manufacture a thin-film solar technology called copper indium gallium selenide technology, or CIGS.

Some types of thin-film solar cells can produce electricity up to 20 percent cheaper then silicon-based cells, according to estimates from Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Taiwan Semiconductor’s CIGS modules currently convert 12 percent of solar energy into electricity, and aims to raise that to 16 percent in five years, said Rick Tsai, president of new businesses.

Spending at the company will reach a record $5.9 billion this year as it boosts capacity and improves technology in anticipation of higher demand for chips used in phones, electronics devices and computers, Chang said, reiterating an earlier forecast. The company will spend an additional NT$300 billion ($9.4 billion) in coming years to build new chip factories in Taichung, Chang said on July 16.

Chang raised his forecast for the global chip market in June, predicting average growth of 7 percent annually from 2011 to 2016, compared with an earlier forecast of 4 percent to 6 percent. Demand will be spurred by developing economies such as China, he said.

Global solar capacity demand will grow an average 23 percent between 2009 and 2015, Tsai said. Demand for solar power using CIGS technology will grow an average 115 percent between this year and 2015, he said.

TSMC to sell own-branded CIGS thin-film modules as first 200MW fab starts construction
16 September 2010 | By Mark Osborne | News > Fab and Facilities, Thin Film, CIGS


*Moving away from its ‘pure-play’ foundry business model to which it has vehemently adhered in the semiconductor industry, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) will directly sell copper-indium-gallium (di)selenide thin-film modules to the global market from its first 200MW plant, which broke ground today. An initial US$258 million is being invested to build a Thin Film Solar R&D Center and production plant, using technology from Stion. The thin-film start-up is partnering with TSMC, which will be its manufacturing and technology development partner.

TSMC also announced plans to add a second phase to the facility and expand CIGS production to more than 700MW, employing around 2,000 staff at the facility in Taichung’s Central Taiwan Science Park, home to its leading-edge semiconductor and newly-announced foray into the LED market.

First-phase equipment move-in was said to be planned for the second quarter of 2011, with plans to achieve initial volume production of 200MW per year in 2012. No timelines were given for the larger, second-phase capacity expansion.

“TSMC has always been committed to technology leadership, and our solar business will be no different,” commented Dr. Rick Tsai, TSMC president of new businesses. “The research performed at this R&D center will help us achieve our goal of offering a leading thin-film solution and the production at this fab, drawing on TSMC's wealth of manufacturing know-how, will pave the way for us to become a top provider of solar PV modules.”

The first CIGS facility was said to be 110,000m2 in size with a production area of 78,000m2.

TSMC chairman and CEO Dr. Morris Chang said, “Construction of this solar R&D center and fab, along with our Fab 15 Gigafab next to it, means Taichung’s Central Taiwan Science Park will become home to much of TSMC's most advanced and innovative production.”

TSMC looks to 40% revenue and profit growth in 2010, says CEO


Nancy Cheng, Taichung; Jessie Shen, DIGITIMES [Thursday 16 September 2010]

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) expects its 2010 consolidated revenues to grow by 40% from 2009, and is aiming for another 10% rise in 2011, according to company chairman and CEO Morris Chang. Both increases would outperform the industry average growth, said Chang.

Chang estimated the overall chip market would rise 30% in 2010, followed by a more modest 5% in 2011.

TSMC's profits for 2010 are also expected to climb 40% from a year earlier, and rise another 10% in 2011, Chang indicated. The company targeted 10% CAGR in its EPS in 2011-2015 remains unchanged.

In response to concerns that the current boom in fab construction may lead to an oversupply and slashed capex, Chang said he does not expect any problems to surface during the upcoming year.

Chang made the remarks at the groundbreaking ceremony for TSMC's thin-film solar R&D center and fab in Taichung, central Taiwan.

TSMC on September 16 broke ground for the construction of a new fab at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP) to produce thin-film solar PV modules. The company will begin the first phase of equipment installation at the facility in the second quarter of 2011, and commence volume production in 2012 with an initial capacity of 200MW per year.