One of the best investments ever made in the semiconductor industry. That's how David Manners covers the story of Philips selling its last shares in TSMC, the dedicated semiconductor foundry.Philips started TSMC in partnership with the Taiwan government 22 years ago (Fab 14 is pictured).
In 1986, the Taiwan authorities were floating the idea of a silicon foundry in which the world's existing chip firms could invest in return for capacity. The offer was open to all, but only Philips took it up, writes David Manners.
It is believed that Philips made no financial investment in the project, contributing instead its process technology, chip design capability, and its fab-building and manufacturing expertise. Now TSMC is worth over NT$1.5trn, or $50bn, on the stock market.
Over time, Philips has been able to raise regular sums by selling off
bits of its equity stake over the years. Also, in addition to the
periodic share sales, Philips has had dividends from the profitable
company
Philips never revealed how much these were but, last year, it revealed it had received a €223m dividend representing its share of TSMC's 2006 profits.
And, as well as share sales and dividends, Philips has had the benefit of a foundry relationship with TSMC, which has allowed Philips, Semiconductors, now NXP, to gradually scale back its expensive exposure to owning digital CMOS fabs.
What a valuable business transaction 22 years ago.
Read Philips Sells last shares in TSMC
Philips never revealed how much these were but, last year, it revealed it had received a €223m dividend representing its share of TSMC's 2006 profits.
And, as well as share sales and dividends, Philips has had the benefit of a foundry relationship with TSMC, which has allowed Philips, Semiconductors, now NXP, to gradually scale back its expensive exposure to owning digital CMOS fabs.
What a valuable business transaction 22 years ago.
Read Philips Sells last shares in TSMC
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