Taiwan has a well-established ecosystem for producing semiconductors, which is why Micron Technology Inc has decided to produce its most advanced DRAM chips in the country, corporate vice president and head of Micron Taiwan Donghui Lu (盧東暉) said in an exclusive interview with the Central News Agency.
Micron Technology announced in May that it would mass produce DRAM chips on its most advanced 1-gamma node in its fab in Taichung in 2025, ahead of any other production site worldwide.
The 1-gamma node would use cutting-edge extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography production equipment. It would be the first Micron DRAM process node to use EUV technology. The process was jointly developed by Micron research and development teams in Taiwan and Japan.
Photo: CNA
Despite the debated geopolitical risks and calls for the “de-Taiwanization” of chipmaking, Lu said that Micron’s investment strategy has not changed, adding that he does not believe these negative sentiments have clouded Taiwan’s prospects in the industry.
“If you can beat your competitors in terms of product quality to the point where there are no alternatives, there is no need to worry because silicon never lies,” Lu said.
The Micron Taiwan head said high bandwidth memory (HBM) and 1-beta and 1-gamma process technology all cost money that can only be spent in Taiwan.
HBM is a new type of 3D memory that vertically stacks memory chips. It is designed to keep up with the performance and power efficiency of resource-intensive applications such as data centers and artificial intelligence.
Micron’s HBM has been facilitated by the 1-beta DRAM process node, which is followed by the latest 1-gamma node.
Taiwan and Japan are the only two production sites for Micron’s DRAM. More than 65 percent of Micron’s DRAM products are manufactured in Taiwan. The Japanese fab started mass producing 1-beta node DRAM chips in October last year, with its Taiwan fab following suit.
Production capacity is expected to expand in the two countries over the next few years, Lu said.
There are several reasons that Taiwan would remain an important investment destination for Micron, he said.
One is that Taiwan’s ecosystem is well-established, and it is difficult for other countries to achieve the same level in the span of a few years, he said.
Another reason is that the semiconductor industry has a long history in Taiwan, so the government, local enterprises and human resources are all highly familiar with the industry, Lu said.
With many countries readjusting their view of the global supply chain following the COVID-19 pandemic, and amidst continuing US-China tensions and the rebranding of the semiconductor industry as a national security priority, supply chain localization is on the rise.
Micron responded to the US government’s calls for domestic manufacturing by making major investments in the US last year. Many worried that the company’s investments in Taiwan would be adversely affected as a result.
However, Lu said the chip industry is globalized and Micron has customers all over the world.
The company would continue providing services to its customers with advanced techniques and would not leave Taiwan for geopolitical reasons, he said, adding that Micron would also continue to grow in Japan and the US to build a more resilient supply chain and be closer to its customers.
Taiwan has a clear advantage in keeping foreign investment, he said.
“While the US and Europe both want to build their own supply chains, Taiwan has spent 40 years achieving the scale it has now. It is an achievement of accumulation that cannot be achieved in one leap.”
When an apartment comes up for rent in Germany’s big cities, hundreds of prospective tenants often queue down the street to view it, but the acute shortage of affordable housing is getting scant attention ahead of today’s snap general election. “Housing is one of the main problems for people, but nobody talks about it, nobody takes it seriously,” said Andreas Ibel, president of Build Europe, an association representing housing developers. Migration and the sluggish economy top the list of voters’ concerns, but analysts say housing policy fails to break through as returns on investment take time to register, making the
NOT TO WORRY: Some people are concerned funds might continue moving out of the country, but the central bank said financial account outflows are not unusual in Taiwan Taiwan’s outbound investments hit a new high last year due to investments made by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and other major manufacturers to boost global expansion, the central bank said on Thursday. The net increase in outbound investments last year reached a record US$21.05 billion, while the net increase in outbound investments by Taiwanese residents reached a record US$31.98 billion, central bank data showed. Chen Fei-wen (陳斐紋), deputy director of the central bank’s Department of Economic Research, said the increase was largely due to TSMC’s efforts to expand production in the US and Japan. Investments by Vanguard International
WARNING SHOT: The US president has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all imported vehicles, and similar or higher duties on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors US President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that a trade deal with China was “possible” — a key target in the US leader’s tariffs policy. The US in 2020 had already agreed to “a great trade deal with China” and a new deal was “possible,” Trump said. Trump said he expected Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to visit the US, without giving a timeline for his trip. Trump also said that he was talking to China about TikTok, as the US seeks to broker a sale of the popular app owned by Chinese firm ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動). Trump last week said that he had
STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE: The group is proposing a consortium of investors, with Tesla as the largest backer, and possibly a minority investment by Hon Hai Precision Nissan Motor Co shares jumped after the Financial Times reported that a high-level Japanese group has drawn up plans to seek investment from Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc to aid the struggling automaker. The group believes the electric vehicle (EV) maker is interested in acquiring Nissan’s plants in the US, the newspaper reported, citing people it did not identify. The proposal envisions a consortium of investors, with Tesla as the largest backer, but also includes the possibility of a minority investment by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) to prevent a full takeover by the Apple supplier, the report said. The group is
RSS