Taiwan's chip manufacturing industry to be affected by Chinese mainland's export suspension

Chinese mainland's suspension of natural sand exports to Taiwan will have an impact on the latter's chip manufacturing industry, according to a former vice-minister of commerce.

Wei Jianguo, who is now vice-president of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said Taiwan currently consumes around 90 million metric tons of natural sand in a year, among which one third are from the Chinese mainland.

The Chinese mainland announced the suspension of natural sand exports to Taiwan starting Wednesday.

Quartz sand, a type of natural sand, is an important raw material for chip manufacturing, and Taiwan is a major global supplier for chips, Wei said. 

liuzhihua@chinadaily.com.cn