The production value of Taiwan’s wafer foundry industry is expected to grow 8 to 10 percent year-on-year next year due to efforts by manufacturers to develop high-end technology, the Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC, 產業情報研究所) said.
Next year’s expected growth rate would beat this year’s estimated rate of 6.4 percent, the institute said, adding that next year’s production value is forecast to total almost NT$1.2 trillion (US$39.05 billion).
Taiwan’s wafer foundry industry is leading its peers in the global market in the development of advanced 7-nanometer processors, which is expected to boost its share of orders for application processors to be used in high-end smartphones, sophisticated graphics processors and chips used for artificial intelligence, it said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, has begun producing chips using the 7-nanometer process.
TSMC’s rival California-based Globalfoundries Inc earlier last week announced that it has dropped 7-nanometer processor development, a move that analysts said would help TSMC reinforce its lead in the world market.
TSMC accounts for more than 50 percent of the global wafer foundry business.
Production at TSMC’s wafer plant in Nanjing is expanding and United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), a smaller Taiwanese rival of TSMC, is eager to extend into automotive electronics applications, the institute said, adding that the moves would give the nation’s wafer foundry industry an overall boost next year.
The production value of the nation’s IC design industry is expected to total NT$579.8 billion this year, up 6.2 percent from a year earlier, thanks to rising demand for wireless communications devices and driver ICs for flat-panel use, it said.
The output of the IC packaging and testing industry is expected to total NT$474.9 billion this year, up 8.3 percent from a year earlier, it said, adding that the industry should grow about 7 percent next year.
IC packaging and testing businesses are expected to continue to benefit this year from the rapid development of high-performance computing devices, seeing stronger demand for high-end processes and weaker demand for handheld devices, which could cap output growth in the industry, it added.
ASE Industrial Holding Co (日月光投資控股), the world’s largest IC packaging and testing services provider, is expected to post third-quarter sales of NT$101.5 billion, up 19 to 20 percent from a year earlier, thanks to peak season effects, analysts said.
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