Thirty Taiwanese firms, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), yesterday launched a silicon photonics industry alliance, aiming to accelerate the medium’s development and address the energy efficiency of artificial intelligence (AI) devices like data centers.
As the world is ushering in a new AI era with tremendous demand for computing power and algorithms, energy consumption is emerging as a critical issue, TSMC vice president of integrated interconnect and packaging business C.K. Hsu (徐國晉) told a media briefing in Taipei.
To solve this issue, it is essential to introduce silicon photonics and copackaged optics (CPO) technology to manufacture chips used in data centers and AI devices, Hsu said.
Photo: Grace Hung, Taipei Times
The Silicon Photonics Industry Alliance aims to shape a global standard for the technology, which still lacks consensus on design, manufacturing and testing, through collaboration with companies in the supply chains, Hsu said.
As Taiwan has built a solid foundation in chip manufacturing, it has a good chance to become an important base for the global AI industry if silicon photonics technology takes root here, he said.
TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, expects the world’s silicon photonics market to expand at an annual compound growth rate of 40 percent to US$64 million by 2028, Hsu said during his keynote speech.
Together with CPO technology, the market would be worth about US$500 million in 2028, the chipmaker forecast.
The growth would be driven by rising demand for high data rate optical transceiver modules used in AI servers, Hsu said.
Taiwan has been developing silicon photonics technology over the past few years, but high costs have curbed the growth of shipments, ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu (吳田玉) said.
Because of surging demand for AI devices, silicon photonics technology development has picked up in recent years, paving the way for quicker commercialization of the technology, Wu said.
The alliance also includes Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), MediaTek Inc (聯發科), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) and AUO Corp (友達), as well as the Industrial Technology Research Institute.
Separately, the Interuniversity Microelectronics Center (IMEC), one of the world’s leading independent nanoelectronics research-and-development (R&D) hubs, yesterday said it has built longstanding partnerships with Taiwanese chipmakers such as TSMC, United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) and Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) to facilitate advanced technologies, CEO Luc Van den Hove said in Taipei.
The Belgian research institute also collaborates with Taiwan’s top universities, such as National Taiwan University and National Tsing Hua University, on R&D.
The institute focuses on developing cutting-edge technologies and driving the roadmaps of most advanced process technologies that are three or four generations ahead of manufacturing, or six to 10 years ahead of manufacturing, he said.
IMEC specializes in lithography technology and has built close partnerships with ASML Holding NV, he said.
“Taiwan is a very important region for us,” he said.
IMEC has been collaborating with TSMC for 20 years on developing advanced technologies, he said.
Commenting on TSMC’s decision to build a new plant in Dresden, Germany, he said it is a “very wise strategy” as it is important for TSMC to reach out to some of its customers.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats