Taiwan plans to help Czech build semiconductor cluster

Prague, Aug. 30 (CNA) Taiwan is planning to team up with Czech Republic to build a semiconductor cluster in the European country, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Friday.

In a news conference, Wu, who led a delegation to attend the annual GLOBSEC Forum in Prague, said Taiwan hopes for cooperation between chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and Czech's counterparts and such cooperation is expected to transform the country into one of the important semiconductor clusters in Europe over the next three to five years.

Wu said as TSMC will build an advanced wafer fab in Dresden, Germany, the company needs a comprehensive supply chain in Europe

To his knowledge, Wu said Czech has placed much emphasis on the semiconductor industry so Taiwan is hoping to partner with the country to build a semiconductor cluster there.

Wu said sound infrastructure such as stable supplies of electricity and water as well as a large pool of excellent engineers are the necessary conditions for Taiwanese companies to consider for their overseas investments.

He said Taiwan and Czech will work closely to make sure these conditions will be met.

In addition, Taiwanese investors also take into account investment incentives the Czech government is likely to offer to them, to make them feel welcome there, Wu said.

On Aug. 20, TSMC broke ground on a 12-inch wafer fab in Dresden through a joint venture called European Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (ESMC), which includes Robert Bosch GmbH, Infineon Technologies AG and NXP Semiconductors N.V.

Total investment is estimated to top 10 billion euros (US$11.1 billion) with TSMC taking a 70 percent stake and each of its three partners taking 10 percent. The EU Commission approved 5 billion euros in subsidies to the project under the EU Chips Act.

In Taipei, the National Development Council (NDC) said on Saturday in a statement that Speaker of Czech's Chamber of Deputies Markéta Pekarová Adamová said her country will be glad to provide tax incentives to support Taiwanese investments in the country's semiconductor industry as Taiwan is one of the most important democratic allies of Czech in Asia.

According to the NDC, Adamová made the remarks when she met with Wu, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫), NDC head Paul Liu (劉鏡清), Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文), head of the National Science and Technology Council and Deputy Economics Minister Chen Chern-chyi (陳正祺), who are also in the Taiwan delegation to the GLOBSEC meeting.

The NDC said the delegation held multiple meetings with Czech government officials to discuss bilateral economic cooperation such as how to reinforce economic resilience, how to meet demand from semiconductor suppliers to facilitate their investments, how to build an industrial cluster, and how to cultivate a talent pool.

In June, another Taiwan delegation, including representatives of semiconductor firms, visited Prague to survey the country's investment environment and exchange views with Czech's representatives about potential investments there, the NDC said.

The NDC said some of the delegates in the June trip have expressed interest in allocating resources to Czech.

In addition to cooperation in the semiconductor industry, the NDC said both sides will team up with each other to develop other high-end technologies such as artificial intelligence amid the current AI boom.