SEMICON Taiwan 2024 opens Wednesday with CEO summit, tech forums

Taipei, Sept. 2 (CNA) More than 20 international forums on leading-edge semiconductor technologies will be held at this year's SEMICON Taiwan, which is expected to draw some 85,000 foreign visitors, the organizers said Monday.

The 85,000 pre-registered foreign visitors are coming from 56 countries, SEMI Taiwan said at a press conference held to highlight the annual international semiconductor trade fair, which opens Wednesday.

SEMICON Taiwan 2024 is expected to feature some 1,100 enterprises at 3,700 booths, which represents a 22 percent increase from last year, according to Terry Tsao (曹世綸), global chief marketing officer and president of SEMI Taiwan.

The international forums, which will start Tuesday before the formal opening of the expo, will include the "most eye-catching CEO Summit" that will feature talks by major figures in the semiconductor industry, Tsao said.

Another highlight will be an "AI chip talk of the century" among major figures from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), ASE Technology, Samsung Electronics, and Google on Wednesday afternoon, he said.

At the other forums, various state-of-the-art semiconductor technologies will be discussed, including Chip on Wafer on Substrate (CoWoS) technology, silicon photonics, and the advanced packaging technology "fan-out/fan-in," Tsao added.

Meanwhile, the expo will feature 16 main themes, including advanced manufacturing, heterogeneous integration, compound semiconductor, green manufacturing, and semiconductor cybersecurity, all of which have been highlighted at previous exhibitions, Tsao said.

However, there will also be some new areas "such as artificial intelligence (AI), smart mobility, silicon photonics, and precision machinery," he added.

There will be 12 country pavilions at the expo, including a United States pavilion for the first time, according to Tsao.

SEMICON is teaming up with Taipei 101 to welcome the foreign exhibitors and will offer a "Welcome Card" and special gifts to foreign visitors, he said.

As part of the effort, Taipei 101 will display SEMICON's messages from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Wednesday, the official opening day, Tsao said.

Minister of Economic Affairs Kuo Jyh-huei (郭智輝) also spoke at the press conference, saying that to promote Taiwan's tourism, shuttle buses will operate on certain routes to take visitors to Taipei's major department stores and renowned restaurants, which will be offering discounts.

The exhibition will be held Wednesday through Friday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, while the forums will open Tuesday.

Some of the high-level industry executives attending the forums will include Y.J. Mii (米玉傑), executive vice president and co-chief operating officer of TSMC; Hamidou Dia, vice president of Applied AI Engineering at Google; Rani Borkar, corporate vice president of Azure Hardware Systems and Infrastructure at Microsoft; Lee Jung-Bae, Samsung Electronics corporate president; Luc Van den hove, president and CEO of imec; and Justin Kim, president of SK hynix.