Business groups from Taiwan and the Czech Republic yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on semiconductor cooperation.
During a seminar in Taipei on semiconductor investments in the Czech Republic, Taiwanese semiconductor material supplier Topoc Scientific Co (崇越科技) teamed up with the Taiwan Eastbound Alliance-Landing America (TeaLa, 台灣新東向全球產學研聯盟協進會) to ink the agreement with the Czech National Semiconductor Cluster.
J.W. Kuo (郭智輝), chairman of TeaLa and Topoc, said that since Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) announced a plan in August last year to build a wafer fab in Dresden, Germany, Taiwan’s semiconductor industry has set its sights on investing in the Czech Republic, as the Germany city is close to the Czech border.
Photo courtesy of Topoc Scientific Co
“With regional supply chain synergy and the Czech Republic’s industrial and economic strength, coupled with its geographical advantage, the prospects for the semiconductor industry in the Czech Republic are promising,” Kuo said in a statement.
TSMC has worked with Bosch GmbH, Infineon Technologies AG and NXP Semiconductors NV to set up a joint venture, called European Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, which aims to build a wafer fab in Dresden.
The Dresden project has secured strong support from the German government and its partners in the investment, with construction set to start in the second half of this year as planned.
The German plant is scheduled to start commercial production at the end of 2027, using 12-nanometer, 16-nanometer, 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies to produce chips for automotive electronics and specialty industrial devices.
At the MOU signing ceremony, Kuo said that to support TSMC’s investment plan in Germany, its Taiwanese suppliers are expected to follow the chipmaker and go global.
Taiwanese suppliers to TSMC are likely to establish a foothold in the Czech Republic around next year, providing services to the chipmaker and other major clients by taking advantage of the geographic proximity, he added.
Topoc is studying the feasibility of making inroads into Europe to provide integrated services such as solutions to upstream foundry operators and backend IC packaging and testing services firms, as well as logistics and warehousing services.
The Czech Republic should build science-based parks to push for advanced semiconductor technology development as Taiwan has done, Kuo said.
In Taiwan, Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區) and Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區) are home to high-end fabs owned by TSMC and other major semiconductor giants.
Speaking at the seminar, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Chern-chyi (陳正祺) said Taiwan and the Czech Republic have shared values and mutual trust, and have forged close business ties, in particular after direct flights were launched last year.
The Czech Republic has a good foundation in industrial development with a large pool of quality workers, so more than 25 percent of foreign investment has poured into the manufacturing sector, Chen said.
Taiwanese companies, such as iPhone assemblers Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Pegatron Corp (和碩), contract notebook computer maker Wistron Corp (緯創) and PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) have already invested in the country, Chen added.
In November last year, the Supply Chain Resilience Center, jointly established by Taiwan and the Czech Republic, opened in the European country to boost efforts to build a semiconductor supply chain.
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