Taiwan News
Date: 2015-11-15
By: Central News Agency

Taipei, Nov. 15 (CNA) Facing the increasing threat from China’s emerging “red supply chain” — the fast-growing cluster of high-tech components cultivated by the Chinese government — Taiwan’s semiconductor industry must collaborate with Chinese companies to stay afloat, Taiwanese industry representatives said Sunday. Chinese state-owned chip maker Tsinghua Unigroup has reached a deal to acquire a 25 percent stake in Taiwan’s Powertech Technology (??), becoming the Taiwanese chip packaging and testing company’s biggest shareholder.

Meanwhile, Tsinghua Unigroup Chairman Zhao Weiguo said that if Taiwan’s government opens its doors wider, Tsinghua Unigroup would like its affiliates, Spreadtrum Communications and RDA Microelectronics, both of which are leading fabless semiconductor companies, to merge with MediaTek Inc., one of Taiwan’s leading integrated circuit designers.

The development has again brought the “red supply chain” issue to the attention of the industry. Nicky Lu, director-general of the Taiwan Semiconductor I ndustry Association (TSIA, said that Taiwan should encourage the industry to strengthen product design, as well as talent development and retention, to improve its competitiveness. Wu teng-iu, CEO of Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. (ASE), the world’s largest integrated circuit packaging and testing firm, also said Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturers should adapt to the rise of the “red supply chain” by creating new values of their own.     [FULL  STORY]