The annual Semicon Taiwan trade show wrapped up its three-day run at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center on Saturday, attracting more than 85,000 visitors and promoting numerous cross-disciplinary business opportunities. The exhibition occupied the center’s Hall 1 as well as Hall 2 for the first time to house more than 1,100 exhibitors, a record high, reflecting the steady growth of the global chip market and highlighting Taiwan’s vital role in the information and communications technology supply chains.
This year’s main topics included advanced packaging and node technologies, equipment and materials, heterogeneous integration, compound semiconductors, smart manufacturing, green manufacturing, cybersecurity and talent, event organizer SEMI said. While leading firms showcased their latest developments and technological applications, the trade show also brought together industry leaders, technical experts, equipment suppliers and research institutions to discuss development trends in the industry, it said.
Amid the rise of artificial intelligence and quantum computing and growing demand for related applications and services, Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association executive director Nicky Lu (盧超群) last week said that the next 20 years would be a “golden age” for the industry.
Taiwan’s semiconductor supply chain plays a key role in the global industry, but it has not been smooth sailing all the way, especially in 2015 and 2016, when the industry faced anemic end-market demand in wireless communications, data processing and consumer electronics, which led to declining or stagnant growth for semiconductor firms. At the time, Chinese chip companies came to Taiwan either to poach talent or set up shell companies to steal trade secrets. China-based Tsinghua Unigroup Co chairman Zhao Weiguo (趙偉國) even boasted of plans to buy Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) and MediaTek Inc.
Fortunately, Taiwan’s chip industry, particularly TSMC, has thrived in the global supply chain since 2020 in the wake of COVID-19-pandemic-era disruptions and a worldwide chip shortage. Nevertheless, some analysts have voiced concerns about the geopolitical risks and challenges that the industry faces, such as technological innovations, changes in global market demand and sustainable development.
Moreover, just as Taiwan’s industrial policy and government support from the 1960s onward have enabled the country to become a global leader in semiconductors, some governments are taking similar approaches to grow their own chip segments. If Taiwan’s semiconductor industry hopes to maintain its leading position amid growing competition from South Korea, the US, China or some Southeast Asian nations, it must invest more domestically in technologies, resources and talent, while also developing strategic partnerships abroad to expand its capabilities and access to foreign markets. After all, the industry would only be able to reach its full potential by aiming for the global market, which would help push forward Taiwan’s long-term economic development.
At the first advisers’ meeting of the Cabinet’s Economic Development Committee last week, former TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) said that Taiwan needs to overcome its economic disadvantages, particularly its limited market size, while companies must see the entire world as a potential market. Taiwan’s next key industry would be determined by whether it has the potential to become a global supplier, he said.
The phrase “think globally, act locally” has been used in many contexts. For Taiwanese semiconductor firms, “think globally” means expanding their business beyond the domestic market and exploring new opportunities in different regions and countries, while “act locally” means understanding the unique needs and preferences of customers in different markets and providing them with tailor-made products and services.
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