TSMC Ships One Million 0.13-Micron Eight Inch Equivalent Wafers

Hsinchu, Taiwan and San Jose, CA, September 16, 2004 - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSE: 2330, NYSE: TSM), said today that it produced and shipped more than one million 0.13-micron 8-inch equivalent wafers, placing the company in the forefront of foundry production at this advanced process node. These wafers are produced from both 8” and 12” wafer fabrication facilities. The 0.13-micron technology node represents 25 percent of TSMC's revenues for the second quarter of 2004 and has generated many times the 0.13-micron revenues of the nearest foundry competitor. In the same quarter of this year, TSMC's 0.13-micron technology contributed nearly US$500 million revenue. “TSMC's overall advanced technology business is growing at a significant pace,” said Dr. Kenneth Kin, senior vice president of worldwide sales and marketing for TSMC. “The shipment of one million 0.13-micron 8-inch equivalent wafers is not only a production milestone, but also proves again TSMC's commitment to providing the advanced technology and manufacturing excellence that helps our customers stay competitive in their markets.” All TSMC 0.13-micron wafers use copper interconnects and a significant number employ low-k dielectric material. TSMC is the only dedicated foundry to provide 0.13-micron low-k production, accounting for 100% of the foundry segment’s low-k output at that node. TSMC completed 0.13-micron qualification and began volume production in the first quarter of 2002. This node provides the industry with a wide range of process choices including CMOS logic and mixed signal processes as well as 1TRAM and other embedded memory options. The process is used in the production of nearly 500 distinct customer products sold into applications and markets, such as programmable logic devices, communications infrastructure devices, cell phones, graphics processors, DVD players, and network processors. TSMC's 0.13-micron technology is in production at Fab 6, which runs 8-inch wafers, and Fab 12, which runs 12-inch wafers. Both fabs are now fully loaded, with yield and cycle times that set the industry standard. To support continued demand, TSMC is also ramping 0.13-micron production in Fab 14, the company's second 12-inch fab.         
                
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 two advanced twelve-inch wafer fabs, five eight-inch fabs and one six-inch wafer fab. TSMC also has substantial capacity commitments at its wholly-owned subsidiaries, WaferTech and TSMC (Shanghai), 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.