Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is expected to see its production value grow by 16.5 percent next year to top NT$6.17 trillion (US$192.28 billion) for the first time, fueled by sustained demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices such as servers and data centers, the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) said yesterday.
That meant Taiwan would outpace the global semiconductor industry, which is expected to expand by 12.5 percent in production value to US$684 billion next year, according to the institute.
Taiwan’s foundry sector would be the biggest beneficiary of this AI boom, with an annual expansion of 20.1 percent in production value next year to NT$3.86 trillion, Terry Fan (范哲豪), a semiconductor analyst with ITRI’s Science and Technology International Strategy Center, said at an industry forum in Taipei.
Photo: RITCHIE B. TONGO, EPA-EFE
The foundry sector’s production value would reach NT$28.60 billion next year, thanks largely to robust demand for advanced technologies including 3-nanometer and 2-nanometer chips, Fan said.
“The rise of generative AI is stimulating demand for HPC devices that are powered by advanced chips,” Fan said. “That is reflected in the fact that more than half of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) wafer revenue came from HPC chips.”
TSMC is a major supplier of 3-nanometer technology in the industry and would be the world’s first to offer 2-nanometer technology next year, the company said.
The production value of local chip packaging and testing service providers next year is projected to grow 12.7 percent to NT$700 billion, an all-time high, as firms use advanced technologies, primarily 2.5-dimension chip-on-wafer-on-substrate technology, to package advanced chips used in AI and HPC devices, Fan said.
A recovery in sales of smartphones, PCs and other consumer electronics would also propel growth, he said.
Globally, the advanced packaging market next year would surpass the traditional chip packaging market for the first time and would make up about 51 percent of the total chip packaging market, the institute projected.
ITRI yesterday also raised its growth forecast for the nation’s semiconductor producers to 22 percent, or NT$5.3 trillion, up from its previous estimate of 17.7 percent. This would be the highest year-on-year increase since 2021.
It attributed the upward adjustment to faster-than-expected growth in the foundry sector, which is expected to see production value grow 27.5 percent this year, compared with an earlier estimate of 20.2 percent growth, the institute said.
Local chip designers are also expected to grow at a faster rate of 16.5 percent this year, up from the previous estimate of 5.1 percent, it added.
However, the institute trimmed its growth forecasts for chip packagers and chip testers to 8.6 percent and 5.2 percent respectively this year, down from previous estimates of 10.5 percent and 13.3 percent.
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
RSS