1934 Act Registration No. 1-14700
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, DC 20549
FORM 6-K
REPORT OF FOREIGN PRIVATE ISSUER
PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-16 OR 15d-16 OF
THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the month of March 2004
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd.
(Translation of Registrant's Name into English)
No. 8, Li-Hsin Rd. 6,
Hsinchu Science Park,
Taiwan
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)
(Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file
annual reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F.)
Form 20-F X Form 40-F _______
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(Indicate by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the
information contained in this form is also thereby furnishing the information to
the Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of
1934.)
Yes _______ No X
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(If "Yes" is marked, indicated below the file number assigned to the registrant
in connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): 82: _______.)
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd.
Date: March 24, 2004 By /s/ Lora Ho
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Lora Ho
Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Contact:
JH Tzeng Chuck Byers Dan Holden
TSMC Public Relations Department TSMC North America TSMC North America
Phone: +886-3-666-5028 Phone: 408-382-7919 Phone: 408-382-7921
Cell: +886-928-882-607 cbyers@tsmc.com Cell: 408-910-1141
jhtzeng@tsmc.com dholden@tsmc.com
TSMC Response Identifies More SMIC Espionage
More Wrong Doing Documented
San Jose, March 23, 2004 - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company
(TSMC) disclosed new evidence of corporate espionage on the part of SMIC in
opposition papers filed in U.S. Federal Court yesterday. The new evidence
includes eyewitness affidavits and new technical verification of trade secret
misappropriation by SMIC.
In its filing, TSMC claimed that SMIC stole advanced semiconductor
manufacturing technology and other trade secrets from TSMC and its U.S.
affiliates. TSMC also claimed that SMIC lured away certain key employees with
offers of SMIC stock and stock options. SMIC expected those employees to bring
"presents" of TSMC's latest proprietary technologies and improvements when they
came to work for SMIC.
TSMC's filing included affidavits of former SMIC engineers who personally
witnessed SMIC's misconduct. According to the filing, one witness estimated that
90 percent of SMIC's 0.18-micron logic process was copied from TSMC. Other
witnesses declared that SMIC attempted to disguise the origin of the information
by internally referring to TSMC and its technology by the code name "BKM1,"
referring to "Best Known Method 1". Still another sworn statement reveals that
SMIC's use of TSMC technologies was "no secret" and was openly discussed by SMIC
engineers.
In its original complaint, TSMC attached a copy of an email seized by the
District Attorney in Hsinchu, Taiwan, that substantiated a solicitation by a
SMIC corporate officer to a then-active TSMC employee. The document requested
her to steal six TSMC process flows, together with process targets and equipment
types; and concluded with the remark: "Sorry for the long list, but we need a
lot of material to set up the new operation." TSMC's new evidence confirms that
SMIC got what it asked for.
The most recent filing also states that TSMC verified SMIC's use of stolen
trade secrets through forensic examination of an SMIC manufactured device bought
on the open market. That chip contains features that are strikingly similar to
TSMC's, but bearing little similarity to comparable features in a chip made by
Chartered Semiconductor, SMIC's only reported licensor of 0.18-micron logic
processes.
These new disclosures contradict a recent SMIC public claim that TSMC's
trade secret suit is without merit. That claim was originally made by SMIC's
CFO, but was later retracted.
This new information came to light in TSMC's opposition papers filed in the
U.S. District Court of Northern California. This filing is in response to SMIC's
February 17th motion to dismiss TSMC's trade secret misappropriation and unfair
competition claims filed by TSMC. In that complaint, TSMC, TSMC North America
and WaferTech alleged that SMIC improperly obtained their trade secrets and
infringed TSMC patents.
In its opposition filing on Monday, TSMC advised the court that it is
continuing its investigation and analysis and that it anticipates additional
filings.
About TSMC
TSMC is the world's largest dedicated semiconductor foundry, providing the
industry's leading process technology and the foundry industry's largest
portfolio of process-proven library, IP, design tools and reference flows. The
company operates one advanced 300mm wafer fab, five eight-inch fabs and one
six-inch wafer fab. TSMC also has substantial capacity commitments at its wholly
owned subsidiary, WaferTech, and its joint venture fab, SSMC. In early 2001,
TSMC became the first IC manufacturer to announce a 90-nm technology alignment
program with its customers. TSMC's corporate headquarters are in Hsinchu,
Taiwan. For more information about TSMC please see http://www.tsmc.com.
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