【英语财经】紫光卷入台湾半导体行业收购大战 Battle for control of leading Taiwan chip group

A battle for control over a leading Taiwanese semiconductor company, between a local rival and China’s biggest chip group, is highlighting the dilemma for Taiwan’s crucial technology sector over how best to manage the mainland's huge investment in the industry.

Last week Tsinghua Unigroup, which is spearheading China’s huge state-led semiconductor investment drive, announced plans to buy 24.9 per cent of Siliconware Precision Industries for Rmb11.1bn ($1.7bn).

SPIL is the second-biggest Taiwanese company in outsourced packaging and testing — the final stage of the semiconductor manufacturing process, in which chips are assembled into usable form and in which Taiwan controls about 50 per cent of the global market.

But on Monday night Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, the biggest company in the sector, responded with an offer to buy the 75 per cent of SPIL it does not already own, matching Tsinghua’s bid of NT$55 per share — a 21 per cent premium to Monday’s close.

Shares in SPIL raced up 10 per cent to NT$50.10 in Taiwan on Tuesday morning, while ASE climbed 3.1 per cent.

The twist is the latest in a protracted stand-off between the two Taiwanese groups, which do not see eye to eye over how to deal with China.

Beijing announced a semiconductor strategy in 2014 involving up to Rmb1tn of investment over five to 10 years. Chinese companies, principally state-controlled Tsinghua Unigroup, have since shown heavy interest in expanding through acquisitions, including of Taiwanese companies.

Tien Wu, ASE’s chief operating officer, told the Financial Times last month that this meant Taiwanese companies would have to collaborate to stay competitive — explaining ASE’s decision to take a 24.99 per cent stake in SPIL in August.

“[Chinese companies] will attack?.?.?.?will build more supply and erode average selling prices,” he said. “If Taiwan does not move to higher integrated value, the overall position of our manufacturing sector will be challenged.”

But Bough Lin, SPIL’s chairman, has resisted ASE’s overtures through gambits including an abortive attempt at a share swap with Taiwanese manufacturer Hon Hai Precision.

“I don’t see it does any harm for China to invest in Taiwan,” he said last month. “We don’t want to compete with them but join them.”

Analysts at Nomura said ASE would need to take on debt to fund the purchase of SPIL, given that the price of about $4bn is more than double its current net cash. But they added that Tsinghua could not trump it because Taiwanese laws bar Chinese companies from acquiring semiconductor companies.

These laws have come under scrutiny as mainland companies’ investment appetite has grown. Regulators have the prerogative to block Chinese minority investments in semiconductor companies — a stance that will be tested by their treatment of Tsinghua’s proposed investments in the smaller chip packagers Powertech and ChipMOS, the latter of which was announced on Friday alongside the SPIL deal.

The most contentious regulation relates to the Taiwanese semiconductor design sector, where Chinese companies are not allowed to make even minority investments — a ban driven by nervousness about intellectual property leaking away to the mainland. Last month John Deng, minister for economic affairs, told the FT that the current government wants to lift the ban before its term ends in May.

“There’s a fear of Taiwan being hollowed out,” said Riyadh Lai, chief financial officer of Taiwanese chip designer Silicon Motion. “But Taiwanese companies have to survive on their own merits, not because of government protection.”

一家台湾当地公司和中国最大芯片集团卷入了对台湾一家顶尖半导体企业的控股之争。这一争端凸显出，在如何最好地管控中国大陆对高科技部门的巨额投资上，台湾这一产业正处于进退两难的境地。

上周，紫光集团(Tsinghua Unigroup)宣布了斥资111亿元人民币（合17亿美元）买入矽品精密工业股份有限公司(SPIL，简称矽品)24.9%股份的计划。目前，紫光正率先启动由中国政府主导的大规模半导体投资。

矽品是台湾第二大封装与测试外包公司。封装与测试是半导体制造流程的最后一个环节，芯片在经过该阶段后被装配为可用形式，台湾控制着全球市场该领域大约50%的份额。

不过，作为应对，该产业的最大企业台湾日月光半导体(Advanced Semiconductor Engineering)在周一晚上提出了新的收购要约，要买下其尚未持有的矽品75%的股份，其价格与紫光每股55元新台币的出价相当——这一价格相对周一的收盘价有21%的溢价。

周二早上，矽品股价迅速攀升10%，涨至每股50.1元新台币，而日月光股价则攀升3.1%。

这是这两家台湾集团长期对峙的最新变局。在如何与中国大陆打交道方面，这两家集团持不同看法。

台湾的“红色供应链”纠结症

2014年，中国政府曾宣布一项半导体战略，其中涉及在5到10年间开展总计1万亿元人民币的投资。自那以来，对于通过并购包括台湾企业在内的企业，中国企业表现了浓厚的兴趣，尤以紫光集团等政府控股企业为多。

上个月，在解释日月光8月份收购矽品24.99%股份的决定时，日月光运营长吴田玉(Tien Wu)曾向英国《金融时报》表示，这一局面意味着台湾企业须团结协作才能保持竞争力。

他说：“（中国大陆企业）会发起攻击……将扩大供应量，拉低平均销售价格。台湾如果不着手提高整合价值，我们制造业的总体地位将面临挑战。”

不过，对于日月光的姿态，矽品董事长林文伯(Bough Lin)已以行动表示反对，这包括此前与台湾制造商鸿海精密(Hon Hai Precision)换股的尝试，不过该计划以失败告终。

上个月，林文伯表示：“我不认为大陆投资台湾有什么坏处。我们并不想和他们竞争，而是想加入他们。”

野村证券(Nomura)分析师表示，考虑到大约40亿美元的价码超过了日月光现有净现金的两倍，该集团需举债才能获得收购矽品所需资金。不过他们补充说，紫光无法与日月光竞争，因为台湾法律禁止中国大陆企业收购半导体企业。

随着中国大陆企业的投资胃口日益增大，这些法律已受到了人们的审视。监管机构拥有禁止中国对半导体企业开展少数股投资的特权。如何对待紫光对规模较小的芯片封装商力成科技(Powertech)和南茂科技(ChipMOS)拟议中的投资，将令监管机构的立场面临考验。其中，对南茂科技的投资已在周五和与矽品的交易一道公布。

最有争议的监管规定与台湾半导体设计产业有关，中国大陆企业甚至被禁止在该领域开展少数股投资——提出这一禁令的动机是担心相关知识产权泄露至中国大陆。上个月，台湾经济部部长邓振中(John Deng)向英国《金融时报》表示，现政府想在5月份该条款到期前解除这一禁令。

台湾芯片设计商慧荣科技(Silicon Motion)财务长Riyadh Lai表示：“有人担心台湾正在空心化。不过，台湾企业必须依靠自身实力生存，而不是在政府的保护下生存。”

译者/何黎