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(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. plans to build an ¥800 billion ($5.3 billion) factory in northeast Japan with financing from investment group SBI Holdings Inc. and the Japanese government, the latest boost to the country's bid to expand its chip manufacturing base. Spurred by the financial support, Powerchip's bigger rival and industry leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is building a factory in southern Japan, to go online next year. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Revenues in global contract chipmaking, or foundries, are projected to fall this year as demand cools rapidly for the advanced chips that have bolstered Asian technology-driven economies Taiwan and South Korea. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Samsung Electronics Co. hold the biggest slices of the foundry industry, fabricating chips to the specifications of companies that do not have chipmaking plants of their own. [Extracted from the article]

Reports on several Asian foundries in Taipei, Taiwan. Sales and net income of the three top Asian foundries; Increase of demand at contract integrated circuit manufacturers; Capital expenditures of the companies.

The article presents information about the integrated circuit (IC) industry in Taiwan. With 57 percent market share, Taiwan dominates the world's IC foundry business. Regardless of the negative impact of the semiconductor dowturn during 1997-1998, Taiwan's return on capital employed has remained above 10 percent. With its high globalization, excellent profitability, admirable operating efficiency and sound financial structure, the foundry business has made a distinguished place for itself from other IC sectors.

Focuses on foundry technology developments in the UMC Inc. in Taiwan. Implication of 300 mm semiconductor wafer development for corporate risk revenues in UMC; Marketing forecast for the growth rate of electronic device demand; Implementation of a system for efficient customer service and joint sharing of engineering designs.

Reports that at least 20 companies focusing on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have set up shop in Taiwan. Government drive to seed the MEMS industry; Setup of academic centers for research; Incubation of design houses; Encouragement of the establishment of foundries.

Reports the partnership between top-tier chip makers and foundries. Development of an advanced complementary metal oxide semiconductor processes; Demand for systems-on-chip has been the key to partnership; Collaboration comes from the problems experienced by the companies.

Reports on a sequential rise in sales posted by Taipei, Taiwan-based foundry United Microelectronics Corp. in August 2001. Comparison with 2000 figure.

Reports on the increased demand for foundries in Taiwan. Comments from Richard Chang, president of Worldwide Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp.; Plans of the company to increase capacity to meet the increasing demand for foundries; Projected sales in January 1999.

Even in the very anomalous category of tech entrepreneurs who?ve become pop stars, Morris Chang is an anomaly. He?s 79 years old, and unlike Steve Jobs, who makes stylish consumer gear, or Mark Zuckerberg, who runs the world?s largest social network and is the subject of a major motion picture, Morris Chang runs a semiconductor foundry. It?s a big one, to be sure: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), in Hsinchu, is by far the world?s largest foundry company, with annual revenues last year of about US $13.3 billion. And yet, the foundry business isn?t what most people would regard as the glamour sector of the semiconductor industry?a foundry is basically a fab-for-hire. Companies create their own designs and pay the foundry to manufacture the chips. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reports on the approval of Hsinchu, Taiwan-based foundry United Microelectronics Corp.'s 65-nm radio frequency complementary metal oxide semiconductor process. The company is preparing for fundamental libraries, intellectual property and other deliverables for the process available to designers. It claims that the process targets wireless system-on-chip applications, including Wi-Fi, WiMax, wireless USB and cellular.

The article focuses on CMP Technologies Asia-Pacific Manufacturing and Technical Center of Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials in the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu City, Taiwan. The company will be close to local foundries, integrated device and memory device manufacturers, as well as having a central location to provide timely service to its customers in the Asia-Pacific region. The manufacturing and technical center will employ engineers, management and customer support staff as well as operators and technical staff.

Reports that United Microelectronics Corp. chairman Robert Tsao acknowledged in the week prior to February 21, 2005, that he had helped set up the Chinese foundry Hejian Technology Corp., but denied any wrongdoing. Likelihood that such corporate action could lead to criminal charges in Taiwan, which worries about the loss of its core foundry business to China; Restriction of investments in some Chinese technologies by Taiwan.

The article reports that fabless chip business is changing in Taiwan. These days, foundries are more than just manufacturing centers catering to fabless chip startups. A big part of their revenue comes from so-called integrated device manufacturers (IDMs). Foundries like working with IDMs not just for the additional revenue it brings, but also because the IDMs will help the foundries perfect their most advanced manufacturing technologies. Catering to the IDMs has led to some disproportionate sales-per-customer ratios at the foundries. INSETS: PERSON TO WATCH;COMPANY TO WATCH.

Reports on the condition of the semiconductor industry in Taiwan. Foundry utilization rate; Decline in product orders; Inventory overhang problems.

Reports on the decision of Taiwanese foundry United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) to drop Dow Chemical's SiLK from its nanometer process. Information on the K-film dielectric from Novellus Systems; Competitor of UMC.

Reports the declination on the recovery of the foundry industry in Taiwan. Announcement of the recovery by news agency Digitimes; Evidence of revival occurred in August and September 2001; Projected decline and capacity shrinking of the industry.

Reports on decline in sales of Taiwanese foundries United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) as of June 2001. Amount of revenue decrease suffered by UMC; Forecast of TSMC on its sales for the third and fourth quarter of 2001.

Reports that Win Semiconductor has become the first Taiwan-based foundry to ship gallium arsenide (GaAs) chips to customers. Other foundries in the country to offer GaAs wafers; Target market of the product.

Reports that Taiwan's foundries are back to expand capacity to meet higher demand and have resumed full production less than a month after the September 21, 1999 earthquake that struck the country. Length of time that the country's technology sector was shut down due to the quake; Why a quick recovery from the quake is said to be critical for the foundry industry; Damages caused by the quake to the chip industry.

Focuses on the competition between NEC chairman Hajime Sasaki and Morris Chang, chairman of TSMC Corp. Details on NEC's negotiations with Taiwan's foundries to overcome capacity limitations; Increase in the number of customers working with foundries.

Focuses on the deal between Taiwan's two foundries to expand their fab capacity. Alliance among Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Philips company and the Singapore government; Value of the investment; Acquisition of 0.5-micron fab line in Japan from Nippon Steel Corp. by United Microelectronics Corp.

Presents an outlook for foundry operations in Taiwan for the year 2002. Decline in the utilization rates of foundries in 2000; Efforts of industry players to be cautious in balancing projections for customers; Growth rate expectations in business operations.

Informs about the domination of Taiwanese foundry market in the world's foundry business. Strong performance of foundry services and dynamic random access memory (DRAM) in Taiwan's semiconductor industry; Chance for foundries to gain memory advantages over traditional DRAM houses; Transformation of Taiwanese foundries into state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities.

The article discusses the outlook of executives who gathered at the Semicon West Foundry Summit on the state of the semiconductor industry. The author says the message he took from the event was that the foundry model stills works very well. On the other hand a forum on the 3D IC technology will be hosted by SEMICON Taiwan in October during a show in Taipei, Taiwan. According to the author, the show in Taiwan is a place to position the company for the future.

The article reports that the Taiwan-based foundry TSMC Corp. is taking a leap ahead of the rest of the foundry industry in offering prototype chips, called CyberShuttle. The foundry's multiuser semiconductor wafer service will be available on a 28 nanometer process technology by the end of 2008. TSMC has customers for its 28 nanometer CyberShuttle, but will not reveal whether they wanted the low-power flavour or the high-performance flavour.

The article presents news briefs related to the electronic industry. Qualcomm Inc. is supplying the dual-core processor with 3D graphics acceleration at the heart of the T-Mobile G1, manufactured by HTC of Taiwan. The company, Renesas Technology Corp., is planning the sale of its semiconductor production facility at Landshut in Germany to a local foundry start-up called Silicon Foundry Holding, run by former local Renesas managers.

The article reveals the increase in the net sales of the world's leading semiconductor foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC). Revenues for the Hsinchu, Taiwan-based foundry for January through October totaled $7.9 billion, down 4.7 percent from the same period last year. On a consolidated basis, TSMC's net sales for October were $1 billion, a 10.7 percent sequential increase, and a 20.6 percent year-over-year increase.

This article reports on the improved revenue of Taiwan-based foundry United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) during the second quarter. However, it reported a decline in its net income, from $375 million to $185 million. UMC also reported that its gross profit margin increased by 7 percent. The company's sales outlook for the coming quarter is highlighted.

The article reports on the sales performance of Taiwanese foundry United Microelectronics Corp. as of February 2006. Sales increased to 22.5 percent year over year but decline to 10.5 percent month over month.

The article reports on the comprehensive design for manufacturing (DFM) software package released by Taiwanese foundry company United Microelectronics Corp. for its 90 nanometer (nm) System-on-Chip process on March 6, 2006. According to the company, the package features DFM elements into standard-cell libraries, SPICE models and design flow. The DFM package incorporates DFM Counselor, DFM Counselor Tools, DFM Value Service and DFM Premium service.

Reports on the dominance of Taiwan in semiconductor industrial capacity as of October 2005. Percentage of worldwide foundry capacity of the country; Status of TSMC and UMC in the Taiwanese foundries; Differential rate of the Taiwanese semiconductor capacity with other countries.

Reports on the increase in the sales of Taiwanese foundries Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) on a monthly sequential basis in June 2004, but were still down considerably year over year. Decline in the sales for the first six months of 2005; Revenue posted by TSMC in the first half of 2004; Sales posted by UMC in the first half of 2005.

Presents news briefs related to the semiconductor industry, as of April 2005. Growth of the global semiconductor industry in 2004; Opportunities of semiconductor makers in high-end imaging systems; Increase in chip production in foundries in Taiwan; Probability of shortages of large-size liquid crystal display panels.

Reports that the 90-nanometer (nm) technology of United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) of Taiwan has qualified at several integrated circuit companies. Role of customer demand in the company's decision to expand the production of the technology; Statement issued by Jackson Hu, CEO of UMC on his company's 90nm foundry services.

Further signs of recovery are apparent in the semiconductor market, with over-ordering reported at the world's largest and second largest silicon foundries, TSMC and UMC of Taiwan. TSMC said large local customers in Taiwan are over-ordering by 20 percent. The product sectors most in demand are controller chips for LCDs and a range of ICs used in consumer electronics products. The firm also said the U.S. customers are over-ordering by 10 to 15 percent. What is causing the anxiety among customers, leading them to over-order, is the high utilization rates at the top two foundries.

Announces the launch of the 300 millimeter electroplating wafer bumping line at the packaging foundry of Unitive Inc. in Taiwan. Expected monthly production of electroplated wafers; Advantages of conversion to 300 millimeter wafer production; Background of the company.

Presents information on the difference of the customer strategies of two foundries in Taiwan. UMC; TSMC.

Focuses on the semiconductor foundries in Taiwan. Their attitude towards their customers; Their outlook for their business; Trends on the foundries.

Reports on the plan on the operations of the Fab 14 foundry of TSMC company in Taiwan. Date of operations of the foundry; Capacity of the Fab 12 foundry of the firm.

Presents information on the foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC). Production plans of the foundry; Comments from Jack Yuan-Chen Sun, senior director of the logic technology division of TSMC; Products that the foundry manufactures.

Looks at the production of pure-play foundries and other integrated circuits by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) Ltd. in 2000. Role of the TSMC production of pure-play foundries in the global market; Factors which may influenced TSMC to build facilities outside Taiwan; Partnership between TSMC and Philips Semiconductor.

Discloses foundry manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s merger deals with Worldwide Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. Benefits of the agreement to the customers; Increase in the company's annual capacity; Growth of the firm's share of the foundry business.