Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登精密), a key supplier of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and high numerical aperture EUV pods to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), yesterday said it is confident about artificial intelligence (AI) demand over the next three to five years, brushing off fears of another technology bubble like the Dotcom bubble in 2000.
“AI demand may seem a bit crazy. Our subsidiary, We Solutions Technology Co (家崎科技), helps assemble AI servers for Giga Computing Technology Co (技綱), but cannot fully satisfy customer demand, so it is expanding capacity,” Gudeng chairman Bill Chiu (邱銘乾) said at a media event in Taipei.
“This is solid demand,” Chiu said. “Unlike previous tech bubbles, I believe the current demand is tangible rather than just hype.”
Photo: CNA
AI growth is especially “solid” for component suppliers such as printed circuit board makers and AI server assemblers, he said.
In order to access chip supply faster, Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc and SpaceX are floating the idea about building their own TeraFab, and Gudeng has been approached to support the project, Chiu said.
Chiu said Musk’s plan is impractical, as it would take time to build a 2-nanometer fab. In addition, as EUV scanner is a crucial equipment used in producing 2-nanometer chips, Musk has to overcome an EUV scanner bottleneck, given limited supply of optics systems from the world’s sole supplier, Zeiss, he added.
Separately, Chiu said he is in discussions with several local companies to create a new consortium to address growing demand for overseas operations, following the precedents of TSS Holdings Ltd (德鑫半導體控股) and TSS2 Holdings Ltd (德鑫貳半導體控股). The new consortium would expand its coverage beyond semiconductor companies, he said.
Three years ago, Gudeng and eight local semiconductor companies formed TSS Holdings to focus on their US operations. It has developed critical semiconductor materials and equipment, significantly shrunk delivery time, reduced costs and boosted supply resilience for customers, Chiu said. Last year, Gudeng joined with another 18 companies to create TSS2 Holdings, he added.
Members of TSS Holdings and TSS2 Holdings are all suppliers of TSMC. TSS2 are mostly back-end chip packaging equipment suppliers.
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