We need to create a new era in Taiwan's IC industry!!

In order to promote exchange between Taiwan's IC industry and academia, the NTU Systems on Chips Center held a "Power IC" forum on January 8th in the 2nd Hall of the Department of Electrical Engineering, and invited high echelon executives who are now active in Taiwan's electronics industries to give talks on the future trends of development in the IC industries of Taiwan and foreign countries.

Dr. Liang-Gee Chen, Director of NTU System on Chips Center, pointed out that it was truly a rare opportunity to be able to invite four senior heavyweight chairmen to get together in NTU and to share their many years' experience in the IC industry. The trends of development of the IC industry have decisive influence on Taiwan's technology, and through the POWER IC forum, faculty, students and industrial members can have a better understanding of the R & D situation in the IC markets both at home and abroad. The four lecturers were: Chairman Jackson Hu of the Neo Energy Microelectronics, Chairman Shan Nan Chen Of Anpec Electronics Corporation, Chairman Ta-Yung Yang of Fairchild Semiconductors, and Chairman Timothy Kuo of AME, Inc.

Opportunities for Taiwan Analog IC companies

The POWER IC forum was begun with a brilliant speech by New Energy Microelectronics Chairman Jackson Hu. Chairman Hu points out that , Analog IC is important in that it is closely related to human life. Today, power management products keep growing, especially analog and mixed signal ICs are the two hot areas in Taiwan's IC market. Chairman Hu maintains that Taiwan should capitalize on the advantages in these two areas to further refine its industrial development. The developing trend of "large markets, and multiple products" represents endless business opportunities for small size companies, which is to say, regardless of the company size, with the right strategy and careful management, small companies have a chance to make their products emerge in the IC markets as well. Chairman Hu also emphasizes that, compared with digital products, analog products have a greater room for development but are more difficult in design, so he reminds all IC companies to be more careful in their product designs. To gain a firm foothold in this business, the IC companies must conquer the bottlenecks encountered in the production of similar products and move toward diversification and advanced manufacturing process

Power IC market and Applications

Regarding the development and application of Taiwan's IC markets, Mr. Shan Nan Chen, who is the chairman of Anpec Electronics Corporation and of Grenergy Opto, Inc.. thinks that Taiwan should walk its own path, instead of being content with an outsourcing partner for international name brands. Taiwan should take precedence of the other strong nations with more innovative technology, he emphasizes. There are new initiatives that Taiwan can capitalize on to create a new era in IC industry. First of all , energy storage and carbon dioxide emission will create new opportunities and new products for Taiwan. Secondly, from a technological point of view, Taiwan's production accounts for 60-70% of the total production in the world, the market share is very high; and thirdly, CMOS can break the professional limits (T-1). Chairman Chen said with a smile on his face: "we believe that the poor can change, and change leads to solution. There are many large corporations abroad training many senior engineers, but they still face the future with their old thinking. What Taiwan should do at this stage is to glean the experiences of the foreign companies, make the best stand out while do away with the worst, thereby enriching its domestic industry.

A Brief Introduction to Power IC Development Trend

Aside from product focusing, Chairman Ta-Yung Yang of Fairchild Semiconductor points out that, sales market is an important link of the development of IC industries. In other words, for the IC industry to develop more rapidly, Taiwan should at the one hand make the manufacturing process more sophisticated, and on the other control the precision of the packaging operation.

The Technology Innovation of Power IC

Lastly, Mr. Timothy Kuo, Chairman of AME, Inc., took the podium. He said, like many engineers in Taiwan, he had great ideals, and he too wanted to break into the American market. But for IC industries to enter the United States, they need to make detailed assessment of possible benefits so that they can capitalize on opportunities and break through the present difficulties. He believes that Taiwan should be dedicated to the development of potential products, and capture the experiences of foreign countries to build a new model for domestic development. He urges everyone to "have the vision to forecast, and change your business model, so you can find a stable way of development."

The Forum attracted many students and teachers attend. After the sessions were over, the audience had heated discussions with the speakers. It was a four hour long Forum, where both the speakers and the audience had a very rewarding experience. Dr. Liang-Gee Chen, Director of NTU System on Chips Center said, in the future he expects to invite more senior people from industry and academia to come to NTU to exchange their ideas with faculty and students. Through more interaction, hopefully the new potentials for the development of Taiwan's IC industry can be identified.