TSMC chairman evaluates factory sites in mainland industrial parks.

Taipei, Jan. 22, 2002 (CENS)--Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) chairman Morris Chang departed yesterday for mainland China to evaluate potential production sites at high-tech industrial parks in Suzhou and Wuxi. Industry watchers in Taiwan believe that Chang's visit may indicate that the Taiwan government will soon allow domestic chipmakers to open chip making factories in the mainland. The Suzhou factory site is near one under assessment by United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), the world's second-largest dedicated chip foundry provider after TSMC. UMC reportedly plans to invest US$5 billion to build factories at another Suzhou park, with construction rumored to …