Taiwan should collaborate with trusted partners to maintain its edge in advanced semiconductor manufacturing, while also confronting China’s increasing global share of legacy chip production, a panel of experts told a forum in Taipei yesterday.
While Taiwan enjoys a “strong and capable” ecosystem in advanced semiconductor manufacturing, it needs to continue working with global partners to “build up the alliance [and] interconnections,” former US security official Joe Wang said.
Additionally, Taiwan should collaborate with those partners on boosting the production of legacy chips, Wang said, referring to less advanced semiconductors that are used in household appliances and automobiles, among others.
Photo: CNA
Global legacy chipmaking has increasingly become “skewed toward China,” Wang said, adding that the situation was “extremely concerning.”
The Chinese government has subsidized production of legacy chips “in a way that none of the rest of our countries can do,” adding that such an approach was not business-driven, but aimed at expanding Beijing’s political influence, Wang said.
Cooperation between trusted partners is needed to balance China’s competitiveness in manufacturing legacy chips, also known as mature nodes, he added.
Wang, who spoke in his capacity as a senior advisor at the Virginia-based think tank Special Competitive Studies Project, previously served as the US National Security Council’s director for Russia.
His comments echoed those of US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, who in April said that China was producing about 60 percent of legacy chips in the world and would continue to do so in the coming years.
The surge in Chinese production was partly caused by US-led export bans on advanced chips and chipmaking equipment to China on national security grounds, some observers said.
Sharing Wang’s concerns, Institute of Geoeconomics director Kazuto Suzuki cautioned against complacency and underscored prioritizing the maintenance of “technological superiority.”
“We cannot just sit and relax,” he said.
China was also striving to make advanced chips, despite facing restricted access to those that power artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies, Suzuki added.
Suzuki urged Japan and Taiwan to further explore collaboration opportunities for semiconductor research and development, such as facilitating the exchanges of technologies, ideas and people.
“Friendshoring is not just about production and trade,” he said. “Friendshoring is also about how to share the information, how to share intellectual property [and] how to maintain those movements of people.”
The Japanese expert was alluding to an emerging trend in trade where supply chain networks prioritize countries seen as political and economic partners.
South Korean economist Yeon Won-ho, a member of the South Korean Presidential Office’s policy advisory committee, also called for cooperation between his country and Taiwan, saying that the two were not “competitors,” but were “complementary” to each other.
One key area for possible collaboration between Taiwan and South Korea is information and communication technology services and devices, Yeon said.
This represents an emerging market, Yeon said, particularly as the US government seeks to ban Chinese-made communications and automated driving systems in cars for fear of data collection by Chinese companies.
The forum was co-organized by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology, a national think tank established in October last year under Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
RSS