Over the next five years, Taiwan is expected to become the second-largest investor worldwide in advanced 12-inch wafer fabs, SEMI, a California-based association that represents the global semiconductor sector, said yesterday.
The nation is forecast to invest US$14 billion to US$17 billion in 12-inch wafer manufacturing facilities from this year to 2024, trailing only South Korea, which is forecast to invest US$15 billion to US$19 billion, the association said.
Local semiconductor companies are expected to build 11 of the fabs during that period, it added.
Thirty-eight of the fabs are to be added worldwide — for a total of 161 — while monthly production capacity is expected to increase by about 1.8 million units to more than 7 million, the association said.
With an investment of US$11 billion to US$13 billion over five years, China would be third, it said.
China is eager to develop its own semiconductor industry and after major investment, it is expected to account for 20 percent of global production capacity by 2024, up from 8 percent in 2015, it added.
China is expected to construct eight 12-inch wafer fabs over the next five years, increasing its monthly production capacity to 1.5 million units, it said.
Global investment in 12-inch wafer fabs this year is expected to increase 13 percent, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, and an additional 4 percent next year, SEMI Taiwan president Terry Tsao (曹世綸) told reporters.
The pandemic has increased demand for chips used in devices such as cloud-based services, servers, notebook computers, and gaming consoles, as well as 5G, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence applications, he said.
The level of investment in the semiconductor industry is a good foundation for the development of advanced technologies, he said.
The DBS Foundation yesterday announced the launch of two flagship programs, “Silver Motion” and “Happier Caregiver, Healthier Seniors,” in partnership with CCILU Ltd, Hondao Senior Citizens’ Welfare Foundation and the Garden of Hope Foundation to help Taiwan face the challenges of a rapidly aging population. The foundation said it would invest S$4.91 million (US$3.8 million) over three years to foster inclusion and resilience in an aging society. “Aging may bring challenges, but it also brings opportunities. With many Asian markets rapidly becoming super-aged, the DBS Foundation is working with a regional ecosystem of like-minded partners across the private, public and people sectors
BREAKTHROUGH TECH: Powertech expects its fan-out PLP system to become mainstream, saying it can offer three-times greater production throughput Chip packaging service provider Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技) plans to more than double its capital expenditures next year to more than NT$40 billion (US$1.31 billion) as demand for its new panel-level packaging (PLP) technology, primarily used in chips for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, has greatly exceeded what it can supply. A significant portion of the budget, about US$1 billion, would be earmarked for fan-out PLP technology, Powertech told investors yesterday. Its heavy investment in fan-out PLP technology over the past 10 years is expected to bear fruit in 2027 after the technology enters volume production, it said, adding that the tech would
YEAR-END BOOST: The holiday shopping season in the US and Europe, combined with rising demand for AI applications, is expected to drive exports to a new high, the NDC said Taiwan’s business climate monitor improved last month, transitioning from steady growth for the first time in five months, as robust global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products and new iPhone shipments boosted exports and corporate sales, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. The council uses a five-color system to measure the nation’s economic state, with “green” indicating steady growth, “red” suggesting a boom and “blue” reflecting a recession. “Yellow-red” and “yellow-blue” suggest a transition to a stronger or weaker condition. The total score of the monitor’s composite index rose to 35 points from a revised 31 in August, ending a four-month
RUN IT BACK: A succesful first project working with hyperscalers to design chips encouraged MediaTek to start a second project, aiming to hit stride in 2028 MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest smartphone chip supplier, yesterday said it is engaging a second hyperscaler to help design artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators used in data centers following a similar project expected to generate revenue streams soon. The first AI accelerator project is to bring in US$1 billion revenue next year and several billion US dollars more in 2027, MediaTek chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行) told a virtual investor conference yesterday. The second AI accelerator project is expected to contribute to revenue beginning in 2028, Tsai said. MediaTek yesterday raised its revenue forecast for the global AI accelerator used
RSS