Conferences are meant to bring young people from different countries together to tackle the defining challenges of the century, Saxony Minister-President Michael Kretschmer said yesterday in Taipei, adding that Taiwan and Saxony share similar histories of nurturing talent and engineers.
Kretschmer was speaking at the first-ever Saxony-Taiwan Science Conference, a forum aimed at deepening cooperation in the semiconductor and electronics sectors.
At the opening ceremony, Kretschmer said the one-day event was a continuation of a series of similar conferences held in Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony, where Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is building a wafer fab.
Photo: CNA
“We want to bring minds together from all over the world to tackle these challenges,” Kretschmer said, adding that the chip and microelectronic sectors are key to tackling those challenges.
Kretschmer said that Saxony and Taiwan have similar histories.
“We started with the chip industry in Saxony, and built on our talents and our engineers, and developed into the prime location for the chip industry in Europe,” he said via an interpreter.
Speaking at the same ceremony, Saxony State Minister of Science Sebastian Gemkow said that Taiwan and Saxony are both known worldwide as centers of excellence, and he welcomed TSMC’s investment in the state.
“We are proud that Taiwan’s largest company, TSMC, has chosen Saxony as a location for its future investment. This is not only a signal of confidence in our economy, but also a strong trend for us in education,” he said.
Meanwhile, National Science and Technology Council Deputy Minister Chen Bing-yu (陳炳宇) said Taiwan and Germany are committed to developing more energy-efficient technologies to build a sustainable future.
“Today’s conference will focus on promoting sustainability in semiconductors. I firmly believe our mutual strengths can deliver groundbreaking solutions in this field,” Chen said.
The Saxon Science Liaison Office Taiwan — which organized the event, titled “Sustainability Perspectives in the Semiconductor Industry” — said it aims to provide a platform for Saxony and Taiwan to forge strategic alliances with universities, research institutes, and industry partners to address global challenges and advance sustainable development in the electronics sector.
TSMC started to build a fab in Dresden in August last year, and construction is scheduled to be completed in 2027 to cater to the European auto market and the industrial sector.
TSMC holds a 70 percent stake in the venture, known as European Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (ESMC).
Robert Bosch GmbH and Infineon Technologies AG, both based in Germany, and Netherlands-based NXP Semiconductors NV each hold a 10 percent share in ESMC.
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