Taiwan mayor says too early to say if tech hub safe from COVID spike

Greatek Electronics

08/06/2021 03:19

By Roger Tung
    TAIPEI, June 8 (Reuters) - It is still too early to say
whether the major chip companies that operate in Taiwan's tech
hub of Hsinchu will be safe from the latest increase in COVID-19
infections, but the government is doing all it can, its mayor
told Reuters.
    After months of relative safety, Taiwan is dealing with a
rise in domestic infections, which have since last week begun
impacting a small number of tech firms in Miaoli, the town
adjacent to Hsinchu, including chip test and packaging firm King
Yuan Electronics  2449.TW  and semiconductor equipment provider
Foxsemicon Integrated Technology  3413.TW .
    Taiwan is a major producer of semiconductors and is central
to global efforts to resolve a chip shortage that has shuttered
some car plants around the world and is now starting to affect
consumer electronics.
    Hsinchu, home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd
(TSMC)  2330.TW   TSM.N , the world's largest contract chip
maker, has set up an "anti-epidemic combat alliance" with Miaoli
to ensure infections do not spread.
    President Tsai Ing-wen has vowed to build a "line of
defence" to protect what she called an "industry of national
importance," sending soldiers last week to help build test
stations in Hsinchu Science Park. 
    Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-​chien, in an interview with Reuters
late on Monday, said that he could not guarantee total safety
for the city's tech firms, but that the government had rolled
out rapid testing stations.
    "I don't dare to say there is absolutely no problem. If
there were no problem, then we wouldn't need to set up rapid
testing stations in the science park so urgently and quickly,"
said Lin, a member of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
    On Sunday he said they had tested more than 1,800 migrant
workers and found five positive cases.
    He said it was "too early to say" whether the city's tech
firms were totally safe.
    "We need to be even more cautious," he said. "Why are we
setting up these test sites? It's to find infected people, and
quarantine their contacts."
    So far the pandemic has not had a major impact on TSMC,
which last month began stepped up disease-prevention measures,
including separating work teams and telling staff and vendors
not to move across its main production sites in Hsinchu,
Taichung and Tainan. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2N40M6
    By Tuesday morning, more than 250 cases had been reported in
four tech companies in the area, the majority of which were in
migrant workers from Southeast Asian countries. 
    Companies affected included chip packaging and testing firm
Greatek Electronics Inc  2441.TW  and telecom equipment maker
Accton Technology Corp  2345.TW .
    In a statement to the stock exchange on Monday, King Yuan,
which has recorded more than 200 infections, said it expected a
30%-35% impact on production in June.
    Still, the government remains confident the country's
economy would hold up well despite the pandemic, predicting it
would grow at its fastest pace in more than a decade in 2021 on
the back of exports. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2NB2EN

 (Reporting by Roger Tung; Writing by Ben Blanchard and Yimou
Lee. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
 ((ben.blanchard@thomsonreuters.com;))