TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan aims to raise semiconductor industry output above NT$8 trillion (US$251.8 billion) this year, as demand for AI and high-performance computing continues to drive growth, UDN Money reported.
The semiconductor industry covers a wide range of businesses, including chip design, wafer manufacturing, and packaging and testing. Its total output has grown from about NT$4.3 trillion in 2023 to NT$5.3 trillion in 2024 and NT$6.5 trillion last year, according to the Cabinet and the Taipei Exchange.
The government is working to strengthen Taiwan’s capabilities across chip design, semiconductor equipment, and advanced packaging. Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧), director general of the Industrial Development Administration, said Wednesday that the agency has assisted 84 chip design and semiconductor equipment companies with technology development.
On the equipment side, the agency has worked with major chipmakers and packaging companies, including TSMC and ASE, to help 29 suppliers develop new equipment and validate their equipment on production lines.
Companies supported by the program include Gallant Micro Machining Co., Scientech Corp., MPI Corp., Skytech Inc. and Usun Technology Co. These suppliers have become important equipment providers for the country‘s growing advanced packaging industry and are expected to help lift domestic semiconductor equipment output above NT$270 billion this year.
Advanced packaging is one area where equipment makers are seeing growing business opportunities as AI chips become larger and combine more types of components. As a result, accurately positioning and bonding chips has become increasingly important to maintaining production yields, the department said.
With government support, Gallant has developed a panel-level packaging system that can process chips of different sizes and orientations on a single machine, removing the need to transfer them between multiple machines. An image-based alignment system precisely positions each chip before bonding, reducing processing time by 50%, according to the department.
The agency is also supporting domestic chip designers as they develop products for a broader range of industries. One example is Alltek Marine Electronics Corp., which has developed a chip for maritime communications.
The chip incorporates a maritime communications technology that can transmit nearly 30 times more data than traditional automatic identification system technology. It is designed to support communication among ships, shore stations and satellites, with potential applications in vessel positioning and emergency communications at sea.
