No discussions on investments or partnerships: TSMC

Taipei, Sept. 26 (CNA) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) reiterated Friday that the company has not entered discussions with any company about potential investments or partnerships amid ongoing rumors of ailing Intel seeking TSMC's participation.

In a statement, TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, dismissed a report by the Wall Street Journal saying that Intel had approached TSMC soliciting investment in Intel's manufacturing operations or a partnership.

The company said it has never entered into talks with any company on establishing a joint venture or engaging in the licensing or transfer of technology.

That stance was similar to previous statements made by TSMC Chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) on several occasions when asked for comment on a potential partnership with Intel.

Rumors about TSMC's possible acquisition of a stake in Intel have been circulating for months.

After the Wall Street Journal report surfaced, TSMC's American depositary receipts (ADRs) fell 1.44 percent in the United States overnight, caused by fears that the Taiwanese chipmaker could lose the trust of its clients and see a fall in orders if it were to work with Intel, analysts said.

TSMC's investments in Intel could help the American company improve its technology, which would create a stronger competitor for TSMC, while a partnership could result in technology leaks from the Taiwan side, analysts said.

Intel, which has been unable to keep up with TSMC on semiconductor manufacturing technologies, has secured investment from the U.S. government, Japan's SoftBank Group and California-headquartered Nvidia Inc. to support Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan's bid to turn around the ailing chipmaker.

After the U.S. government took a 10 percent stake in Intel, the American chipmaker got US$2 billion in investment from Softbank in August and then a US$5 billion pledge last week from Nvidia.