Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is expected to see its production value grow by 16.5 percent next year to top NT$6.17 trillion (US$192.28 billion) for the first time, fueled by sustained demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices such as servers and data centers, the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) said yesterday.
That meant Taiwan would outpace the global semiconductor industry, which is expected to expand by 12.5 percent in production value to US$684 billion next year, according to the institute.
Taiwan’s foundry sector would be the biggest beneficiary of this AI boom, with an annual expansion of 20.1 percent in production value next year to NT$3.86 trillion, Terry Fan (范哲豪), a semiconductor analyst with ITRI’s Science and Technology International Strategy Center, said at an industry forum in Taipei.
Photo: RITCHIE B. TONGO, EPA-EFE
The foundry sector’s production value would reach NT$28.60 billion next year, thanks largely to robust demand for advanced technologies including 3-nanometer and 2-nanometer chips, Fan said.
“The rise of generative AI is stimulating demand for HPC devices that are powered by advanced chips,” Fan said. “That is reflected in the fact that more than half of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) wafer revenue came from HPC chips.”
TSMC is a major supplier of 3-nanometer technology in the industry and would be the world’s first to offer 2-nanometer technology next year, the company said.
The production value of local chip packaging and testing service providers next year is projected to grow 12.7 percent to NT$700 billion, an all-time high, as firms use advanced technologies, primarily 2.5-dimension chip-on-wafer-on-substrate technology, to package advanced chips used in AI and HPC devices, Fan said.
A recovery in sales of smartphones, PCs and other consumer electronics would also propel growth, he said.
Globally, the advanced packaging market next year would surpass the traditional chip packaging market for the first time and would make up about 51 percent of the total chip packaging market, the institute projected.
ITRI yesterday also raised its growth forecast for the nation’s semiconductor producers to 22 percent, or NT$5.3 trillion, up from its previous estimate of 17.7 percent. This would be the highest year-on-year increase since 2021.
It attributed the upward adjustment to faster-than-expected growth in the foundry sector, which is expected to see production value grow 27.5 percent this year, compared with an earlier estimate of 20.2 percent growth, the institute said.
Local chip designers are also expected to grow at a faster rate of 16.5 percent this year, up from the previous estimate of 5.1 percent, it added.
However, the institute trimmed its growth forecasts for chip packagers and chip testers to 8.6 percent and 5.2 percent respectively this year, down from previous estimates of 10.5 percent and 13.3 percent.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has secured three construction permits for its plan to build a state-of-the-art A14 wafer fab in Taichung, and is likely to start construction soon, the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau said yesterday. Speaking with CNA, Wang Chun-chieh (王俊傑), deputy director general of the science park bureau, said the world’s largest contract chipmaker has received three construction permits — one to build a fab to roll out sophisticated chips, another to build a central utility plant to provide water and electricity for the facility and the other to build three office buildings. With the three permits, TSMC
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
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