National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) and seven local companies in Kaohsiung yesterday inaugurated the institution’s College of Semiconductor and Advanced Technology Research, the latest local university to set up a semiconductor talent cultivator.
The new semicondcutor college would enable the government, academia and industry to cooperate on cultivating talent, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the ceremony.
The semiconductor industry is vital in Taiwan, generating output of more than NT$4 trillion (US$133.71 billion) last year, Tsai said, adding that international demand for Taiwanese semiconductors is growing.
Photo: Lee Huei-chou, Taipei Times
NSYSU plays an important role in cultivating talent in the industry, with the seven companies investing about NT$900 million to foster chip testing and packaging, and electronic components talent over the next 10 years, she said.
Tsai thanked Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) and his municipal administration for cooperating with the central government on the expansion at NSYSU, which in March opened its School of International Finance.
“I am grateful to President Tsai for setting a clear direction for the country’s development, because where the president’s policies are, there are resources,” Chen said.
Also at the ceremony were Democractic Progressive Party Legislator Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆), NSYSU president Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀), Deputy Minister of Education Lio Mon-chi (劉孟奇), National Development Council Deputy Minister Yu Chien-hwa (游建華) and 300 tech-sector representatives.
“I am grateful to NSYSU president Cheng and all of the university’s staff for their dedication and support of industry,” Tsai said. “Through that dedication and cooperation with the government, NSYSU has inaugurated two new colleges in a short time.”
Huang I-yu (黃義佑), who was NSYSU’s vice president, stepped down to serve as the semiconductor college’s first dean.
Tsai thanked Huang for making the transition, saying it would contribute to the success of the college.
“Tsai’s continued support has allowed higher education in Taiwan to effectively cooperate with industry,” Cheng said. “This has allowed us to keep talent in Kaohsiung, to make our students more competitive and to deploy our skills globally.”
STRONG INTEREST: Analysts have pointed to optimism in TSMC’s growth prospects in the artificial intelligence era as the cause of the rising number of shareholders The number of people holding shares of chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) hit a new high last week despite a decline in its stock price, the Taiwan Depository and Clearing Corp (TDCC, 台灣集保) said. The number of TSMC shareholders rose to 2.46 million as of Friday, up 75,536 from a week earlier, TDCC data showed. The stock price fell 1.34 percent during the same week to close at NT$1,840 (US$57.55). The decline in TSMC’s share price resulted from volatility in global tech stocks, driven by rising international crude oil prices as the war against Iran continues. Dealers said
PRICE HIKES: The war in the Middle East would not significantly disrupt supply in the short term, but semiconductor companies are facing price surges for materials Taiwan’s semiconductor companies are not facing imminent supply disruptions of essential chemicals or raw materials due to the war in the Middle East, but surges in material costs loom large, industry association SEMI Taiwan said yesterday. The association’s comments came amid growing concerns that supplies of helium and other key raw materials used in semiconductor production could become a choke point after Qatar shut down its liquefied natural gas (LNG) production and helium output earlier this month due to the conflict. Qatar is the second-largest LNG supplier in the world and accounts for about 33 percent of global helium output. Helium is
China is clamping down on fertilizer exports to protect its domestic market, industry sources said, putting an additional strain on global markets that were already grappling with shortages caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran. China is among the largest fertilizer exporters — shipping more than US$13 billion of it last year — and it has a history of controlling exports to keep prices low for farmers. Shipments through the war-blocked Strait of Hormuz account for about one-third of the sea-borne supply. This month, Beijing banned exports of nitrogen-potassium fertilizer blends and certain phosphate varieties, sources said. The ban, which has not
AMAZING ABUNDANCE: Elon Musk has announced plans for a new facility in Texas which would manufacture chips for Tesla and SpaceX to use in robotics and AI Elon Musk said his Terafab project — a grand plan to eventually manufacture his own chips for robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and space data centers — would be built in Austin and jointly run by Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX). Musk, the chief executive officer of the two companies, said he would start off with an “advanced technology fab” in Austin that would have all of the equipment necessary to make chips of any kind. The project would call for one day supporting 1 terawatt (TW) of computing power per year, the amount Musk expects the companies to
RSS