Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) yesterday said that he is optimistic about the semiconductor industry’s future growth, as Moore’s Law is alive and well, and should continue to drive industry growth.
Data from international trade group SEMI showed that over the past six decades, global semiconductor revenue has grown to US$480 billion, following the path of Moore’s Law, former Intel Corp CEO Golden Moore’s observation that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles every two years, while the cost per transistor is halved.
Debates have been going on whether a slowing of that ratio would hamper the industry’s growth.
Photo: CNA
“People have asked: Will semiconductors evolve for another 60 years? I’m optimistic about this,” Liu said in a speech to a think tank summit organized by SEMI in Taipei as part of the three-day SEMICON Taiwan show at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, which opened yesterday.
“To TSMC, Moore’s Law is alive and well,” Liu said.
TSMC’s 7-nanometer process technology entered its second year of mass production this year and its 5-nanometer technology is to begin mass production next year, Liu said.
“Next year, we will see rapid expansion for our 5-nanometer technology. Now we are concentrating our research and development efforts on 3-nanometer,” he said.
“We are also making encouraging progress in developing 2-nanometer technology every week. We are entering the ‘pathfinding’ mode [early research and development stage],” he added
“Someday, if everyone has a quantum computing device in his or her pocket, I believe TSMC will not be absent [from that technology]. I believe the development of semiconductors will continue to unfold,” Liu said.
However, a shortage of qualified engineers and other professionals could hamper the industry’s development more than technological barriers, he said.
To create a larger talent pool in Taiwan, Liu called on the government to increase its national technology research budget to encourage university professors and students to engage in semiconductor research.
“Technological leadership is the only way for Taiwan’s semiconductor industry to survive,” Liu said.
Meanwhile, Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) told the summit that the government has approved TSMC’s environmental impact assessment for a new 2-nanometer fab in Hsinchu.
In a separate forum organized by SEMI, TSMC vice president of corporate research Philip Wong (黃漢森) said that with the evolution of Moore’s Law, the company might offer 2-nanometer and even 1-nanometer technology.
However, the technological evolution might not be defined by the technology node, or by the transistor’s geometry, but rather by chip density, Wong said.
Higher chip density helps drive costs lower, while elevating chip performance, he said.
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.