The nation’s small and medium-sized IC design companies are to receive subsidies from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to develop chips more advanced than 28-nanometer nodes, the Central News Agency (CNA) reported on Sunday, citing sources from the Industrial Development Bureau.
As part of the government’s 10-year plan to develop Taiwan into a pivotal hub for IC design with a significant presence in the global market by 2033, the ministry plans to allocate NT$800 million (US$25.06 million) to subsidize local small and medium-sized IC design firms, the report said.
Companies might receive a maximum subsidy of 50 percent of what they request to focus on artificial intelligence, smart vehicle or other high-performance chips, it said.
Photo: Pichi Chuang,Reuters
In addition to well-known IC designers such as MediaTek Inc (聯發科), Realtek Semiconductor Corp (瑞昱) and Novatek Microelectronics Corp (聯詠), there are about 200 small and medium-sized IC design companies in Taiwan, according to the bureau.
Detailed application terms are still under discussion within government agencies, which are expected to be announced early next year, the report said.
The plan needs to be reviewed and approved by the Executive Yuan, and the ministry aims to launch it next year, it said.
The US last year imposed strict controls on exports of chips more advanced than 28 nanometers to China for 10 years, a move that experts said would lead China to focus on mature technologies like 28 and 40-nanometer nodes.
Taiwan’s small and medium-sized IC design companies are likely to face a price war from their Chinese peers, as local firms’ main business focus is 28-nanometer technology at present, with only a few having the capability to develop 16-nanometer chips, bureau officials said.
For many small and medium-sized IC design companies, developing advanced nodes such as 16 and 14 nanometers poses a considerable burden on their finance, costing more than NT$100 million and warranting subsidies from the government, bureau officials said.
In March, MediaTek chairman Tsai Ming-kai (蔡明介) said the government should pay more attention to IC design companies instead of semiconductor makers and called on policymakers to propose at least NT$10 billion to assist the local IC design industry given the rising competition from China.
The National Science and Technology Council last month unveiled a 10-year initiative aiming to increase local IC design companies’ global market share to 40 percent by 2033 and to achieve an 80 percent global market share for advanced semiconductors of 7 nanometers or below. The council is planning a budget of NT$12 billion for the initiative next year.
TAIWAN IS TAIWAN: US Representative Tom Tiffany said the amendment was not controversial, as ‘Taiwan is not — nor has it ever been — part of Communist China’ The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year. The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC. The act includes US$831.5 billion in
‘WORLD WAR III’: Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said the aid would inflame tensions, but her amendment was rejected 421 votes against six The US House of Representatives on Friday passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal 2026, which includes US$500 million for Taiwan. The bill, which totals US$831.5 billion in discretionary spending, passed in a 221-209 vote. According to the bill, the funds for Taiwan would be administered by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and would remain available through Sept. 30, 2027, for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. The legislation authorizes the US Secretary of Defense, with the agreement of the US Secretary of State, to use the funds to assist Taiwan in procuring defense articles and services, and military training. Republican Representative
Taiwan is hosting the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) for the first time, welcoming more than 400 young linguists from 43 nations to National Taiwan University (NTU). Deputy Minister of Education Chu Chun-chang (朱俊彰) said at the opening ceremony yesterday that language passes down knowledge and culture, and influences the way humankind thinks and understands the world. Taiwan is a multicultural and multilingual nation, with Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, Hakka, 16 indigenous languages and Taiwan Sign Language all used, Chu said. In addition, Taiwan promotes multilingual education, emphasizes the cultural significance of languages and supports the international mother language movement, he said. Taiwan has long participated
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
RSS