SEMICOM Taiwan to open on Sept. 18; leaders to gather in tech forum

Taipei, Sept. 14 (CNA) SEMICON Taiwan, one of the leading exhibitions in the global semiconductor industry, is scheduled to open on Sept. 18 with a tech think tank forum to be the focus, due to the presence of many industrial heavyweights, according to the organizer SEMI.

SEMI, a global industry association of companies that serves the manufacturing supply chain in the electronics industry, said SEMICON Taiwan, which will run through Sept. 20 at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, will put much emphasis on high-end technology development, tech integration and industrial sustainability.

The upcoming event will highlight a wide range of technologies, such as smart manufacturing, smart auto production, smart medical care, as well as smart digital technology development at a time when the global market is seeing the emergence of 5G technology, the Internet of Things applications and automotive electronics applications, SEMI said.

The organizer added that due to the presence of these new technologies, the global semiconductor industry has been gearing up to devote itself to high-end manufacturing technology development, while demand for sophisticated integrated circuit packaging and testing services has been on the rise.

It said SEMICON Taiwan is expected to embrace 21 technology development themes and more than 20 technology forums in the industry's development, and among these activities, the Technology Think Tank Summit, which will be held on opening day, is expected to attract attention as many industrial heavyweights will be there to talk about the next 60 years for high tech development in Taiwan.

Among the industrial leaders to the summit are contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s (TSMC) Chairman Mark Liu (劉德音), notebook computer ODM services provider Quanta Computer Inc.'s chairman Barry Lam (林百里), memory chip designer Etron Technology Inc.'s founder and chairman Nicky Lu (盧超群), wafer plant operator Powerchip Semiconductor Corp.'s chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁), IC packaging and testing services provider ASE Technology Holding Co.'s president and CEO Tien Wu (吳田玉), and memory chipmaker Macronix International Co.'s president C.Y. Lu (盧志遠).

In addition to these Taiwanese industrial leaders, several foreign tech heavyweights are expected to attend the event and speak.

According to the website of SEMICON Taiwan, foreign tech magnets to deliver their keynote speech will include U.S.-based IC designer Qualcomm Inc.'s senior vice president of engineering Michael Campbell and social media operator Facebook Inc.'s vice president Shahriar Rabii.

SEMI said eight foreign and regional pavilions will be set up in the upcoming exhibition and they are the German Pavilion, the Kyushu (Japan) Pavilion, the Okinawa (Japan) Pavilion, the Holland High Tech Pavilion, the Korea Pavilion, the Singapore Pavilion and the Silicon Europe Pavilion.

The organizer said the 2019 SEMICON Taiwan will host more than 700 exhibitors from 43 countries worldwide, up from 680 exhibitors in the previous year, and attract almost 50,000 expert visitors, up from 36,784 visitors a year earlier.

Taiwan is the world's largest IC producer and IC packaging and testing services provider, with TSMC and ASE taking the largest share in the global market for these two sectors, respectively.

In the past nine years, Taiwan has been the largest buyer of semiconductor production materials and equipment valued at US$11.4 billion.