Smartphone chip firm MediaTek CEO sees 'incremental' move away from Taiwan - Reuters

Nov 13 (Reuters) - Tensions betwixt China and the United States are pushing immoderate shaper companies to speech astir moving immoderate of their proviso concatenation distant from Taiwan arsenic well, though it’s “incremental,” the caput of Taiwan’s astir important smartphone spot plan steadfast told Reuters implicit the weekend.

Some of the "very ample (equipment manufacturers) volition necessitate their spot suppliers to person aggregate sources, similar from Taiwan and from U.S., oregon from Germany oregon from Europe," said MediaTek Inc (2454.TW) Chief Executive Rick Tsai. "I deliberation successful those cases, we volition person to find aggregate sources for the aforesaid spot if the concern warrants that."

It’s happening already but not astatine ample scale, helium added.

Tsai and elder executives talked to Reuters connected the sidelines of a media and expert lawsuit the institution was hosting successful California’s vino vale Sonoma Valley connected Friday. The institution has been pushing to turn its U.S. business, and Tsai said the extremity was to triple oregon quadruple sales, though helium didn’t springiness a clip frame.

While MediaTek's astir precocious smartphone chips are made astatine Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (2330.TW) successful Taiwan, Tsai said immoderate older smartphone chips are made by GlobalFoundries Inc (GFS.O), which has factories successful places similar the U.S. and Singapore, and pointed to an announcement earlier this twelvemonth to make its chips astatine Intel Corp’s (INTC.O) fabrication facilities.

Tsai said the "Intel 16" spot manufacturing exertion that MediaTek has committed to usage fits good for producing MediaTek chips for astute TVs and Wi-Fi. “It’s a large concern conception for us. So we're not joking. And I'm supervising that advancement myself each month,” said Tsai adding that its chips volition beryllium made by Intel’s Ireland fabrication installation from the 2nd fractional of 2024.

He said that MediaTek volition besides beryllium producing chips successful TSMC’s Arizona’s fab erstwhile that is up and running, but cautioned that it wasn't realistic for the spot manufacture to wholly determination distant from Taiwan, the world's astir important portion for precocious spot making.

“But is that going to beryllium enough? No. Not by far,” helium said.

Reporting By Jane Lanhee Lee

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.