Taiwan’s IC test interface specialists have seen strong demand for networking chips applications thanks to mounting penetration of Wi-Fi 6/6E solutions, compensating for the order decline in handset APs, according to industry sources.

Compal Electronics has developed a railway safety system through integrating 5G real-time data transfers and C-V2X (Cellular-Vehicle to Everything) wireless connectivity, both in compliance with 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) specifications, with AI-based image recognition technology. It is the first smart decision-making and early warning system for railway safety in Taiwan, according to the company.

With traditional OSAT providers, IDMs and foundries like Intel, TSMC and ASE heading into advanced packaging technologies to tap the growing high performance computing market, concerns about sustainability have started to drive industry trends. According to Jun He, TSMC’s vice president of quality and reliability, the narrowing linewidth and growing difficulty to extend Moore’s Law makes advanced packaging, system integration and material innovation increasingly important to sustain the momentum of increasing transistor count per unit area. Meanwhile, Min-Te Chen, a director at TSMC who also chairs SEMI Taiwan Materials Committee, observed that the global sustainability development is reaching a new milestone, so the current shared goal of the semiconductor industry is to align the push for advanced process technology with sustainability goals, and that can be done through innovation in materials.

The observations for this issue’s Asia Enterprise include the South Korea’s government has budgeted KRW 31 trillion (US$22.61 billion) for research and development in 2023, mainly investing in AI, robotics, semiconductors, 5G and 6G communication technologies. Panel makers are facing losses and investing in the solar panel business to make up for the losses. Toyota is expanding its production and setting up new factories in Japan and the US, and Honda and LGES are setting up battery factories in the US, which shows that the two major Japanese automakers are actively to control the main supply of batteries.