Taiwan on Tuesday opened a Chip-based Industrial Innovation Program office with NT$300 billion (US$9.25 billion) in funding earmarked over 10 years, during a ceremony witnessed by representatives from IC design and foundry companies such as Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp, Mediatek Inc and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
The program, which was approved last year, starts this year and aims to boost the innovation of Taiwan’s generative artificial intelligence (AI) in all industries and continue IC technological development on the basis of the nation’s edge in chipmaking, National Science and Technology Council Minister Wu Tsung-tsong (吳政忠) said at the launch event.
Wu said Taiwan is now “treading a path where it no longer has anyone to follow” and has to “advance with the support of everyone in the country.”
Photo: CNA
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry has a lead of at least 15 years, but it is crucial the country uses that 15-year gap to further strengthen its prowess across the IC chain, from upstream IC design and intellectual property design to equipment, materials and chemicals, Wu said.
Approving Wu’s comment, Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) at the event said that it was the reason Wu proposed the program to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) last year.
Taiwan can enlarge its 20 percent share of the IC design market by making advances in cutting-edge AI products and AI applications — or AI products and applications that move computing away from the cloud to the users’ devices, Cheng said.
“Taiwan is a reliable and trustworthy science research partner and also a go-to partner for friend-shoring [or sourcing from geopolitical friends],” Cheng said.
While there has been a call for “Taiwan plus one” — meaning companies trying to “de-risk” their manufacturing by moving to countries other than Taiwan — “as long as Taiwan has a leading edge in the semiconductor ecosystem, it would be meaningless to have ‘plus one’ if you do not have Taiwan in the first place,” the vice premier said.
The program’s office unveiled officially on Tuesday will serve as a platform coordinating resources from the government, the industrial sector and academia, said Chiueh Tzi-dar (闕志達), acting executive chief of the office.
“It will operate with the aim of undertaking the four areas of the program: industrial innovation with AI, IC design advancement, talent cultivation and facilitating foreign investment with the lure of Taiwan’s IC infrastructure,” Chiueh said.
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