With continued growth in its semiconductor design capability and the expansion of OEM production techniques, Taiwan will become the world’s wafer foundry hub says Morris Chang, chairman of the worldÆs largest foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).
Chang believes it will take another 20 to 25 years for the world’s semiconductor industry to mature and during that time the sky is the limit for semiconductor
makers and foundry services to continue to flourish, he told the New York Institute of Technology while accepting an honorary doctorate.
Chang claims that TSMC is catching up with international market leader Intel in the development of cutting-edge microchip technology. He said the company will upgrade its current techniques for manufacturing eight-inch IC wafers to the production of 12-inch wafers by the end of 2001 or early 2002, not far behind Intel which is expected to start 12-inch wafer production commercially in 2001.
