Qualcomm Inc and Microsoft Corp are evaluating the feasibility of investing in the government-led “Asia Silicon Valley Development Plan,” which would help deepen collaboration between Taiwanese start-ups and international tech companies, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
“Qualcomm and Microsoft both expressed their willingness to participate in the program,” Minister of Economic Affairs Lee Chih-kung (李世光) told reporters before a conference on the plan in Taoyuan.
Qualcomm is interested in cooperating with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (工研院) to develop new technologies, and Microsoft might establish a research and development (R&D) unit in Taiwan, Lee said
The ministry is also approaching other international tech companies to invest in Taiwanese start-ups or set up R&D centers, Lee said.
The government plans to form three software and hardware system integration companies, targeting the Internet-of-Things (IoT), big data and driverless car technology, Lee said, adding that the government would also financially support the establishment of at least 100 start-ups.
“Taiwan cannot miss the opportunity of tapping the rising IoT industry, which could provide more than US$6 trillion worth of business opportunities by 2025,” Asia Silicon Valley Development chief executive officer David Weng (翁嘉盛) said, citing McKinsey & Company research.
The Asia Silicon Valley Development Plan aims to match Taiwanese companies with international companies, to encourage collaborations on new technologies for IoT applications and to expand the presence of Taiwanese firms in the IoT industry, Wang said.
The government in September last year launched the project, which is aimed at turning Taiwan into a tech hub in the Asia Pacific region.
The executive center of the program is in Taoyuan.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
POWER BUILDUP: Powered by Nvidia’s B200 Blackwell chips, the data center would support MediaTek’s computing power demand and business growth, the company said Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) data center with a maximum capacity of 45 megawatts to meet its rising demand for computing power required to develop new advanced chips for AI applications. The company has completed the first-phase computing power buildup at the data center in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), providing 15 megawatts of capacity to support its research and development (R&D) capabilities, despite an industrywide shortage of key components, MediaTek said. Supply constraints have plagued a wide range of key components, including memory chips, solid-state drives, power supply units and central
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
RSS