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TAIWAN will overtake Japan in 2011 as the world’s largest semiconductor materials market, according to Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI).
While the global semiconductor market rose 25 percent in 2011, the Taiwanese government has been working to improve the competitiveness of its domestic chip market.
For example, Taiwan’s National Chip Implementation Centre (CIC) has announced a new method of fabricating chips that cuts development time by two-thirds while also slashing costs in half.
The new technology stacks chip modules on top of each other, thereby enabling higher density of electronic components on a circuit board. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) is partnering in this technology, which could be a challenger for Intel’s Tri-Gate transistor technology.
TSMC posted NT$36.28 billion (roughly US$1.2 billion) in net profit in the first quarter of 2011. This has been credited in part to its exposure to the smartphone and tablet markets, which are performing strongly.
TSMC estimates the company’s sales for 2011 will rise 20 percent from 2010 in US dollar terms. In addition, the company said it also expected its sales for the second quarter would rise 3.4 percent to 5.3 percent from the first quarter.
TSMC has also announced that it will double output capacity to an equivalent of over 20 million 200mm wafers in five years, having identified strong demands from developments in human-machine interface, digital-media technologies and a quickly diversified environment.
Other major semiconductor firms in Taiwan include UMC (United Microelectronics Corporation) and Mediatek, which is a fabless semiconductor company.