The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) yesterday raised its growth forecast for Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, expecting production value to expand about 19.4 percent to NT$4.88 trillion (US$164.24 billion) this year, primarily aided by stronger growth from foundry companies amid a chip crunch.
That means the output of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry would again outpace that of its global peers, which collectively are expected to grow 10.4 percent this year, ITRI said.
The institute three months ago estimated that the production value of the nation’s semiconductor industry would grow 17.7 percent annually to NT$4.81 trillion this year, compared with NT$4.08 trillion last year.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
The production value of the foundry sector, the biggest contributor to the industry, is expected to grow 28 percent to top NT$2.49 trillion this year, compared with an earlier estimate of 24 percent expansion, the institute said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest foundry service provider, yesterday posted record revenue of NT$172.56 billion for last month, surging 55 percent annually and up 0.3 percent monthly.
That brought TSMC’s revenue in the first four months of this year to NT$663.64 billion, soaring 40.1 percent from NT$473.73 billion in the same period last year.
Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電), which primarily makes display driver and power management ICs, reported revenue last month surged about 48 percent year-on-year to a record NT$7.33 billion, with cumulative revenue in the first four months jumping 54.14 percent to NT$28.04 billion.
Production value at chip designers, the second-biggest contributor to the nation’s semiconductor industry, are expected to climb 14 percent annually to NT$1.38 trillion this year, the institute said.
Handset chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) reported that revenue increased 43.89 percent annually to NT$52.63 billion last month, the second-largest monthly level in the firm’s history.
Revenue in the four-month period totaled NT$195.34 billion, up 35.08 percent year-on-year, the company said.
ITRI said that local chip testers’ production value would grow 9.6 percent annually to NT$222.5 billion this year, higher than its February estimate of an 8.4 percent rise to NT$220 billion.
However, memorychip makers’ production value would rise 7.6 percent to NT$309.8 billion this year, a downward revision from its February prediction of a 10.7 percent increase to NT$318.8 billion, it said.
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
Elon Musk’s lieutenants have reached out to chip industry suppliers, including Applied Materials Inc, Tokyo Electron Ltd and Lam Research Corp, for his envisioned Terafab, early steps in an audacious and likely arduous attempt to break into the production of cutting-edge chips. Staff working for the joint venture between Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) have sought price quotes and delivery times for an array of chipmaking gear, people familiar with the matter said. In past weeks, they’ve contacted makers of photomasks, substrates, etchers, depositors, cleaning devices, testers and other tools, according to the people, who asked not to
Japan approved ￥631.5 billion (US$3.97 billion) in additional subsidies to hasten Rapidus Corp’s entry into the high-stakes artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaking arena, ramping up support for a project widely regarded as a long shot. The capital is intended to bankroll Rapidus’ work for information technology firm Fujitsu Ltd, one of the initial customers that Tokyo hopes would get the signature endeavor off the ground. The new money raises the fees and investments that the government is injecting into the start-up to ￥2.6 trillion by the end of the current fiscal year to March next year, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and
RSS