In this March 6, 2023 photo illustration, a smartphone with a TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) logo displayed is placed on a computer motherboard. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo acquire license rights
- Chip designer Arm is important to the chairman of the TSMC ecosystem
- Wants Arm to be “successful” and “healthy.”
- The TSMC plant in Arizona has seen “tremendous” improvements
- TSMC continues to apply for grants for the plant in Germany
TAIPEI, Sept 6 (Reuters) – TSMC (2330.TW), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, will decide this week whether to invest in chip designer Arm Holdings’ blockbuster initial public offering (IPO), CEO Mark Liu said on Wednesday.
Speaking on the sidelines of the SEMICON Taiwan summit, Liu also said that operations at TSMC’s massive Arizona facility have “improved tremendously” and that he is confident the facility will be a success.
“Arm is an important part of our ecosystem, our technology and our customers’ ecosystems. We want it to be successful, we want it to be healthy. This is the bottom line,” Liu said.
Pressing when a decision might be made, he said “this week,” adding that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) is still reviewing the matter.
SoftBank Group’s Arm Holdings (9984.T) started the roadshow for its IPO on Tuesday. The chip designer is hoping to persuade investors that this year’s biggest stock sale is worth as much as $52 billion.
Arm has already secured other major clients as corner investors for its IPO, including Apple (AAPL.O), Nvidia (NVDA.O), Alphabet (GOOGL.O), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O), Intel (INTC.O), and Samsung Electronics (005930.KS).
Ignoring concerns about progress at TSMC’s Arizona plant due to labor shortages, Liu said he is confident the plant will be successful.
“I just came over from Arizona last month. Every project in this new fertile ground requires a certain learning curve. In the last five months the improvement has been tremendous. I’m sure it will be a very successful project,” he said.
In July, TSMC said the start of production next year at its first fab in Arizona would be delayed until 2025 due to a shortage of skilled workers, and it sent technicians from Taiwan to train local staff.
TSMC is investing $40 billion in the project, supporting Washington’s plans for more domestic chip manufacturing.
As part of an overseas expansion, the company is also investing 3.5 billion euros ($3.76 billion) to build a factory in Germany, which Liu said will focus on supplying the auto industry. Germany is home to major automobile manufacturers such as Volkswagen.
“We are still applying for funding from the federal government and the EU, it’s going, but everything is going very smoothly,” he said.
Shares of TSMC ended Wednesday down 0.4%, in line with the broader index (.TWII).
($1 = 0.9318 euros)
Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Adaptation by Anne Marie Roantree and Catherine Evans
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Comments are closed.