In a clear sign that Taiwan's semiconductor industry is making the shift from manufacturing to design, VIA Technologies (
"At this point, the [IC] design strength in Taiwan is much greater than it was 13 years ago," said Morris Chang (
As the virtual founder of Taiwan's chip industry, Chang speaks with authority. His idea of manufacturing chips for customers at the lowest possible price, left the task of research and development to clients.
The foundry industry he created provided IC designers with a low cost alternative to building their own semiconductor manufacturing plants -- a US$2 billion savings.
Since the island's chip industry took off over a decade ago, the IC design sector has since vaulted to number two in the world, according to Dataquest. The nation's 200 design firms produced an estimated US$2.6 billion in microchips last year, 84 percent growth year on year.
This year, a number of forces are propelling Taiwan's IC industry forward, a combination of strong designs and lower prices throughout the industry. Ironically, price cuts due to competition between TSMC and United Microelectronics (UMC, 聯電) is allowing local IC companies to make chips at lower prices than ever before.
As a result, industry players and analysts alike expect VIA to emerge as the nation's first global powerhouse in the design of computer CPU chips, against competition from industry giants like Intel and AMD. A CPU is the brain of a computer and its most expensive part.
In late 1999, VIA bought two US-based IC design firms, Cyrix and Centaur, and started down the road of CPU design. The company added engineering expertise from its operations here and came up with the Cyrix line of computer CPU for the personal computer market.
"If VIA makes solid inroads into the industry CPU market, which is a big market -- US$20 billion -- I think that would be significant," said Calvin Chang, semiconductor analyst at JP Morgan Chase, Taipei.
"It would put VIA really in a different league, VIA would no longer be just a chipset company."
VIA's expertise over the past few years has been computer chipsets, the component a computer CPU is mounted on that enables the CPU to communicate with the rest of the computer.
Chipsets accounted for over 90 percent of VIA's sales last year, while CPUs only made up 5 percent of company earnings.
Most analysts say CPUs will grow to between 10 and 30 percent of VIA's sales this year.
Chang expects VIA to target its CPU products at the value PC market -- personal computers built for between US$200 and US$300 -- which could capture the 90 percent of the world's population unable to afford a computer at current prices of around US$1,000.
The company says the value PC market, along with notebooks and Web Pads, are perfect for its Cyrix family of microprocessors. And the company has priced the chips far below competitors in a bid to capture market share in the coming year.
"Quality products at low prices, you know, that's the Taiwan story," said Chang, "And in chips, VIA can deliver."
US SANCTIONS: The Taiwan tech giant has ended all shipments to China-based Sophgo Technologies after one of their chips was discovered in a Huawei phone Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) suspended shipments to China-based chip designer Sophgo Technologies Ltd (算能科技) after a chip it made was found on a Huawei Technologies Co (華為) artificial intelligence (AI) processor, according to two people familiar with the matter. Sophgo had ordered chips from TSMC that matched the one found on Huawei’s Ascend 910B, the people said. Huawei is restricted from buying the technology to protect US national security. Reuters could not determine how the chip ended up on the Huawei product. Sophgo said in a statement on its Web site yesterday that it was in compliance with all laws
SPEED OF LIGHT: US lawmakers urged the commerce department to examine the national security threats from China’s development of silicon photonics technology US President Joe Biden’s administration on Monday said it is finalizing rules that would limit US investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and other technology sectors in China that could threaten US national security. The rules, which were proposed in June by the US Department of the Treasury, were directed by an executive order signed by Biden in August last year covering three key sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies and certain AI systems. The rules are to take effect on Jan. 2 next year and would be overseen by the Treasury’s newly created Office of Global Transactions. The Treasury said the “narrow
TECH TITANS: Nvidia briefly overtook Apple again on Friday after becoming the world’s largest company for a short period in June, as Microsoft fell to third place Nvidia Corp dethroned Apple Inc as the world’s most valuable company on Friday following a record-setting rally in the stock, powered by insatiable demand for its specialized artificial intelligence (AI) chips. Nvidia’s stock market value briefly touched US$3.53 trillion, slightly above Apple’s US$3.52 trillion, London Stock Exchange Group data showed. Nvidia ended the day up 0.8 percent, with a market value of US$3.47 trillion, while Apple’s shares rose 0.4 percent, valuing the iPhone maker at US$3.52 trillion. In June, Nvidia briefly became the world’s most valuable company before it was overtaken by Microsoft Corp and Apple. The tech trio’s market capitalizations have been
SPECIALIZIATION: OpenAI is designing a new type of semiconductor with Broadcom that would run artificial intelligence software and respond to user requests OpenAI is working with Broadcom Inc to develop a new artificial intelligence (AI) chip specifically focused on running AI models after they have been trained, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The AI start-up and chipmaker are also consulting with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest chip contract manufacturer, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. OpenAI has been planning a custom chip and working on such uses for the technology for about a year, but the discussions are still at an early stage, the sources said. OpenAI declined