Last week, Infineon Technologies, the world’s biggest automotive chip supplier, announced plans to build a NT$1.2 billion (US$36.99 million) research and development (R&D) center in Taiwan, which could elevate the nation’s position in the world’s automotive chip supply chain, adding one more key field Taiwan can significantly contribute to.
Taiwan’s dynamic ecosystem of innovation with highly skilled R&D talent and strong industry clusters are crucial factors that led to Infineon choosing Taiwan over other countries.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) makes advanced automotive chips designed by Infineon and NXP Semiconductors NV in Taiwan. Those chips would be packed and tested by back-end semiconductor companies locally before shipping to customers’ warehouses.
By dollar amount, Infineon’s R&D center might not appear as significant as those by other tech heavyweights, but Infineon plans to build an entire R&D process for next-generation automotive-grade Bluetooth chips, wireless battery management systems for electric vehicles, new-generation smart copilots and smart car access systems.
The center would work in collaboration with the Industrial Technology Research Institute, the cradle of Taiwan’s key technology companies such as TSMC, as well as prestigious institutions including National Taiwan University, along with multiple Taiwanese network module manufacturers and automotive system developers.
The project would also involve international automotive electronic R&D experts, facilitating exchanges with local researchers and industry customers, and the transfer of expertise in the automotive domain.
Infineon said it aims to complete the entire process of next-generation Bluetooth chip design, production and testing in Taiwan. In an unprecedented move, the German chip supplier has tapped Sam Geha, executive vice president of its Internet of things, computing and wireless business, to supervise the project. Usually, Infineon Taiwan would report to the company’s Asia-Pacific unit in China rather than directly to its headquarters. That would just not work in this case.
Infineon’s new investment is part of the “A+ Global Innovation Partnership Initiative Program,” launched by the Ministry of Economic Affairs to accelerate Taiwan’s development of cutting-edge technologies by leveraging the strengths of global industry leaders. The ministry has granted Infineon a NT$480 million subsidy. The company would invest about NT$720 million upgrading its existing Wireless Communication R&D Lab in Taiwan to the new R&D center.
The investment in the centers, the first from European automotive chip makers, would create NT$60 billion in production value for local automotive electronics, Infineon said in a statement yesterday.
It is encouraging to see a slew of global technology heavyweights including Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices that are keen to establish R&D or innovation centers in Taiwan.
It is understandable that chip designers are aiming to leverage the strengths of local semiconductor ecosystems to reduce products’ time to market and to secure sufficient chip supply in a cost-effective way. With more R&D in Taiwan, the country has an opportunity to make a major shift to build a greater presence in software and to rebalance its hardware-software capabilities.
To The Honorable Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜): We would like to extend our sincerest regards to you for representing Taiwan at the inauguration of US President Donald Trump on Monday. The Taiwanese-American community was delighted to see that Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan speaker not only received an invitation to attend the event, but successfully made the trip to the US. We sincerely hope that you took this rare opportunity to share Taiwan’s achievements in freedom, democracy and economic development with delegations from other countries. In recent years, Taiwan’s economic growth and world-leading technology industry have been a source of pride for Taiwanese-Americans.
Next week, the nation is to celebrate the Lunar New Year break. Unfortunately, cold winds are a-blowing, literally and figuratively. The Central Weather Administration has warned of an approaching cold air mass, while obstinate winds of chaos eddy around the Legislative Yuan. English theologian Thomas Fuller optimistically pointed out in 1650 that “it’s always darkest before the dawn.” We could paraphrase by saying the coldest days are just before the renewed hope of spring. However, one must temper any optimism about the damage being done in the legislature by the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), under
As Taiwan’s domestic political crisis deepens, the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) have proposed gutting the country’s national spending, with steep cuts to the critical foreign and defense ministries. While the blue-white coalition alleges that it is merely responding to voters’ concerns about corruption and mismanagement, of which there certainly has been plenty under Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and KMT-led governments, the rationales for their proposed spending cuts lay bare the incoherent foreign policy of the KMT-led coalition. Introduced on the eve of US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the KMT’s proposed budget is a terrible opening
To our readers: Due to the Lunar New Year holiday, from Sunday, Jan. 26, through Sunday, Feb. 2, the Taipei Times will have a reduced format without our regular editorials and opinion pieces. From Tuesday to Saturday the paper will not be delivered to subscribers, but will be available for purchase at convenience stores. Subscribers will receive the editions they missed once normal distribution resumes on Sunday, Feb. 2. The paper returns to its usual format on Monday, Feb. 3, when our regular editorials and opinion pieces will also be resumed.
RSS