Tokyo Electron Ltd, Asia’s biggest semiconductor equipment supplier, yesterday launched a NT$2 billion (US$61.5 million) operations center in Tainan as it aims to expand capacity and meet growing demand.

Its new Taiwan Operations Center is expected to help customers release their products faster, boost production efficiency and shorten equipment repair time in a cost-effective way, the company said.

The center is about a five-minute drive from the factories of its major customers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) advanced 3-nanometer and 2-nanometer fabs.
 

Tokyo Electron Taiwan Ltd president Roger Chang, center, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo, fourth right,
and other guests gesture at the opening of Tokyo Electron Ltd’s operations center in Tainan yesterday.

The operations center would have about 1,000 employees when it is fully utilized, the company said.

TSMC vice president T.S. Chang (張宗生), who oversees advanced technology and mask engineering, attended the center’s opening ceremony, along with United Microelectronics Co (聯電) and Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電) representatives.

“With the opening of this operations center, we aim to reach two goals: First, we aim to expand our scale to cope with the ongoing growth of the Taiwanese market. Second, we hope to shorten the product repairing time cycle and to broaden the supply chain,” Tokyo Electron Taiwan Ltd chairman Hikaru Ito said at the ceremony.

The six-floor facility is comprised of a repair center and a testing lab to provide customers with one-stop services, as Taiwan plays a key role in the global artificial intelligence (AI) industry, Tokyo Electron Taiwan president Roger Chang (張天豪) said.

For the first time, the company can help fix vacuum transpiration robotic arms used in semiconductor equipment for customers in Taiwan, it said.

In the past, it took about seven months to complete the whole repair process in Japan, compared with one to two months now, it said.

The new repair center would also help customers fix damaged ovens used in lithography equipment, it said.

The company is mulling to build a more resilient supply chain in Taiwan through sourcing key parts locally, it said, adding that it has a shortlist of potential suppliers.

Taiwan has become the fourth-biggest market for the company, accounting for 13.3 percent of its total revenue in the second quarter, a spike from 9.3 percent a year earlier, a company financial statement showed.

The new operations center demonstrates the close partnership between Taiwan and Japan in the semiconductor field, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said at the opening ceremony.


Taipei Time / Lisa Wang