The Taiwan Office of Science and Technology in San Francisco invited Dr. Wu Zhengzhong to meet with the media on Friday, May 24th, to share Taiwan’s achievements, prospects, and perspectives in semiconductor development.
Dr. Wu Zhengzhong is an honorary professor at National Taiwan University and former chairman of the National Science and Technology Committee. From May 22nd to 24th, he was invited to attend a seminar at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in the United States, where he delivered a speech on promoting scientific and technological partnerships between Taiwan and the United States.
In addition, he participated in a closed-door working-level meeting on the US chip bill and shared Taiwan’s insights in the semiconductor industry. At the media meeting, Yeh Chih-Cheng, Director-General of the Department of Science and Technology of the National Science and Technology Committee and former head of the San Francisco Science and Technology Group, served as the host.
Dr. Wu Zhengzhong stated that Taiwan has a globally integrated semiconductor ecosystem and professional division of labor, with over 1,200 upstream and downstream companies involved in IC design, manufacturing, packaging, testing, materials, and equipment. Through this cluster of over a thousand semiconductor-related enterprises, Taiwan demonstrates resilience in responding rapidly to market demands.
He further mentioned that Taiwan’s Crystal Innovation Initiative last year differs from the strategies of other countries. While other nations typically provide substantial subsidies in the short term to support the semiconductor industry, Taiwan plans to invest 300 billion New Taiwan Dollars over ten years, incorporating technologies like generative AI to proactively position Taiwan in future technology industries, fostering comprehensive innovation and application across all sectors.
Dr. Wu emphasized that the development of chips and technology worldwide is inseparable from excellent engineers. Taiwan will share its chip innovation achievements with like-minded countries and has established an international chip design talent incubation platform in Prague, Czech Republic this year. Taiwan plans to continue expanding this education platform by opening one to two training centers annually in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, aiming to cultivate more fundamental chip design talents to meet global demands. Additionally, Taiwan encourages creative talents from the United States to collaborate with Taiwan’s manufacturing advantages for local research and development, achieving mutual benefits.
Finally, Dr. Wu stressed that Taiwan is an indispensable global partner, playing a crucial role in the global security supply chain. Taiwan should be included in international organizational frameworks, leveraging the strength of democratic alliances to uphold consistent standards and norms and counter economic coercion from authoritarian regimes, particularly from the Chinese Communist Party.