As graduation season arrives, Taiwan's semiconductor industry once again enters its annual competition for talent. Driven by declining birth rates and surging demand for computing power fueled by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, semiconductor companies have continued to expand their hiring efforts year after year. As labor shortages become increasingly serve, recruiting international talent has become a strategic imperative for companies seeking to maintain their competitive advantage.  For years, ASE, the world's leading semiconductor packaging and testing company, and Micron, one of the world's leading memory manufacturers, have actively participated in the International Talent Development Program promoted by Taiwan's Industrial Development Administration (IDA) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA). Through talent recruitment initiatives across Southeast Asia, coupled with comprehensive training programs and diverse employee benefits, both companies have successfully attracted professionals from various cultural backgrounds to pursue long-term careers in Taiwan.Southeast Asia emerges as a key source of international talentAccording to Sunny Li, Vice President of the Administrative Resources Center at ASE, the company began recruiting international professionals nearly 30 years ago during the early stages of its manufacturing expansion. Packaging and testing specialists from the Philippines, in particular, played a critical role in building the company's operational foundation."We initially recruited fewer than 100 employees, then expanded to 200. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, we recruited another 200," Li said. While ASE initially focused on attracting highly qualified white-collar professionals from the Philippines, the company's continued expansion in manufacturing capacity and business operations has significantly increased its demand for international operational talent.In addition to the Philippines and Malaysia, which remain key sources of international talent, ASE has recently attracted students from Indonesia and Vietnam, as well as professionals graduating from leading universities in countries such as the Republic of Nicaragua and Türkiye. Today, the company employs international professionals from more than 16 countries.Micron, currently the only global memory manufacturer with production facilities in Taiwan, has also participated in overseas talent recruitment missions organized by the Industrial Development Administration for many years, recruiting manufacturing and semiconductor packaging talent from Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia."The government's overseas recruitment missions and talent training programs have provided tremendous support by encouraging companies to engage with international students much earlier," said Esther Cho, Director of Global Talent Acquisition at Micron Taiwan. "Through these initiatives, students can gain semiconductor industry experience through internships while studying in Taiwan, while also benefiting from access to the broader semiconductor ecosystem."Building Taiwan into an international talent development hubGiven that semiconductor companies recruit thousands of employees annually, failing to build a sustainable talent pipeline could pose significant business risks. In addition to overseas recruitment, both ASE and Micron actively collaborate with Taiwan universities, including I-Shou University, Cheng Shiu University, National Sun Yat-Sen University, National University of Kaohsiung, National Taiwan University, National Tsing Hua University, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, and National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, encouraging international students studying in Taiwan to participate in internships before graduation and transition directly into full-time positions.Li believes that retaining international students already studying in Taiwan through work visa and permanent residency programs has become an increasingly important strategy. These students have already adapted to Taiwanese culture and daily life while overcoming many of the language barriers during their studies, enabling them to integrate into corporate operations more quickly after graduation.ASE's recruitment of international graduates from Taiwanese universities has steadily increased from an initial 50 employees to 100, and the company expects to hire approximately 400 international graduates from Taiwanese universities this year."Developing international talent has always been one of our most important strategic investments," Li said. "We hope to cultivate a new generation of international management talent who can contribute in Taiwan and eventually assume leadership positions at our overseas operations.""Having such a loyal international workforce gives us greater confidence in sustaining double-digit annual growth," Li said. "For example, our operations in Malaysia already employ nearly 6,000 people. Whether Malaysian graduates choose to remain in Kaohsiung or eventually return to Malaysia, they represent valuable talent assets for our company."Li also praised the Industrial Development Administration's efforts to bring companies and universities together to recruit talent overseas, helping enhance the international visibility of Taiwan's semiconductor industry and its leading enterprises."The government's long-term commitment to these initiatives has enabled us to gradually build stronger international talent networks and generate cumulative momentum," Li said. "That is why we are now witnessing exponential growth in the number of international students choosing Taiwan."In fact, ASE and Micron are not alone. Taiwan is increasingly becoming an important global hub for semiconductor talent development. For example, talent development programs jointly operated by TSMC and overseas universities also bring international recruits to Taiwan for comprehensive training before assigning them to overseas operations. From a global business perspective, cultivating international talent in Taiwan is not only about addressing immediate labor shortages but also about developing the future managerial and technical backbone of semiconductor companies' global operations.Building an inclusive workplace to retain international talentAs global competition for semiconductor talent continues to intensify, Taiwan is strengthening its comprehensive support ecosystem for international talents. By aligning corporate initiatives with government resources, Taiwan seeks to create an environment that encourages international talent to pursue long-term career development and build their careers in the country.To encourage international talent to remain in Taiwan, ASE provides Mandarin language courses, assists foreign employees with permanent residency applications, and offers night-shift allowances of up to 40%. The company also places strong emphasis on cultural diversity and religious inclusion. In addition to hiring chefs from employees' home countries to prepare authentic cuisine, ASE organizes beauty pageants, recognizes outstanding international employee instructors through special awards programs, and celebrates Christmas and other major international festivals, creating an environment where international employees feel respected, valued, and connected to the organization.Li further suggested that Taiwan's government, industry, and academia should work together as "Team Taiwan" to continuously promote the competitiveness and global brand of Taiwan's semiconductor industry, thereby attracting more outstanding international talent to Taiwan.She also proposed that the government introduce tax incentives or tax credits to encourage companies to invest in scholarships, professional seminars, Mandarin language education, and other talent development initiatives. Such measures would further strengthen corporate participation in international talent development and maximize the impact of the Semiconductor International Talent Connection and Innovation Empowerment Program across talent recruitment, development, and retention.In addition to Mandarin courses, Micron assigns every international employee both a mentor and a buddy to help them adapt to life and work in Taiwan. The company's Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) also provide practical support on issues such as housing, taxation, and everyday life.Amid the rapid transformation of the global semiconductor talent landscape, Taiwan's competitive advantage comes not only from its world-class industrial strength, but also from its continuous efforts to build a friendly and development-oriented environment for international talent. When talent chooses to stay in Taiwan and grow alongside the industry, what Taiwan delivers is not only semiconductor technology, but also the key talent driving global innovation and sustainable competitiveness.

Discussion around advances in AI will often focus on model performance, chip launches, and compute scale. In practice, however, progress increasingly depends on something more fundamental: the ability to build faster, more reliable infrastructure for moving, processing, and managing data.That challenge starts well before systems reach the data center. It begins in the fabAs demand rises for accelerated computing infrastructure, advanced memory, and high-performance packaging, semiconductor manufacturers are being pushed to deliver devices capable of supporting a far more data-intensive economy. For fabs, the task is no longer limited to making smaller or faster chips. It is about sustaining the precision required to manufacture the hardware foundation of higher-throughput digital infrastructure.That shift is making the modern fab more dependent on a broader precision ecosystem.Better computing performance now depends on better data infrastructureWhat the market often labels as AI progress is increasingly tied to data infrastructure performance. Training and inference systems require more than advanced processors. They depend on moving massive volumes of data quickly, reliably, and efficiently across increasingly complex hardware environments.That demand is reshaping what fabs are being asked to produce. Growth is rising not only for leading-edge logic, but also for high-bandwidth memory, advanced interconnects, co-packaged optics, and sophisticated packaging approaches that support higher throughput with lower latency and better power efficiency. In effect, semiconductor manufacturers are being asked to fabricate the physical backbone of a faster data infrastructure layer.For fabs, this has direct consequences. As the value of each chip and subsystem rises, so does the cost of variation. More complex devices leave less room for process instability, optical inconsistency, or dimensional drift. Yield and repeatability become more important when end markets depend on that hardware to sustain reliable data flow at scale.The pressure on fabs is becoming more systemicPrecision is therefore becoming a system-level issue inside semiconductor manufacturing. Performance is no longer defined only by the nominal capability of an individual tool. It is increasingly shaped by how well the full production environment supports stability over time.Thermal behavior, structural integrity, optical quality, and light management all influence whether advanced tools can hold the tolerances required for next-generation devices. As process windows narrow, even small variations can affect overlay, imaging, inspection sensitivity, and ultimately throughput and yield.This has important implications for the ecosystem around the fab. Equipment makers need stable structures for alignment and imaging. Inspection systems need consistent optical performance and signal integrity. Metrology platforms need materials that can maintain dimensional integrity in highly controlled environments. In each case, enabling materials become part of the fab's performance infrastructure.That is why advanced material platforms are drawing more attention in semiconductor manufacturing. Leading ultra-low expansion and high-purity optical materials are already being used in precision-critical semiconductor environments where stability, optical quality, and repeatability matter. These materials may sit deeper in the stack than the tools themselves, but their contribution can be seen in long-term equipment performance and process consistency inside the fab."General industry analysis tends to focus on the most visible layers of semiconductor innovation, but the enabling materials behind tool stability and precision are becoming increasingly important as infrastructure requirements continue to rise,” said Jason Cho, business director of Semiconductor Technologies & Solutions, Corning. “As fabs are asked to support faster and more reliable data-centric systems, there is greater recognition that performance starts with the quality of the materials that help tools maintain repeatability, optical integrity, and dimensional stability over time."Inspection matters more when every chip supports data throughputAs accelerated computing infrastructure scales, the role of inspection is also changing. It is no longer only about detecting defects in support of incremental yield improvement. It is also about protecting the performance of devices that fabs are producing for systems built around continuous, high-volume data movement.That makes inspection and optical performance more strategically important inside semiconductor manufacturing. The ability to manage light effectively, maintain image quality, and reduce optical noise can influence how well fabs identify process deviations before they affect downstream device performance.This also helps explain renewed interest in some long-established optical materials. For example, Corning has reported recent increased interest in the company's Corning Polarcor glass polarizer, first brought to market around 1985. Although it is not a new product, companies developing optical components for for high-speed datacenters and communications systems have shown fresh interest in its polarization and light-control properties. That reflects a wider market realization: building fast, stable, and reliable infrastructure for data throughput depends not only on compute performance, but also on how well underlying optical systems control and optimize light propagation.For fabs, that same principle has direct relevance in inspection and imaging environments. As optical subsystems become more central to process control and yield protection, materials that improve contrast, reduce unwanted light effects, and support signal integrity can take on greater value. In a tighter manufacturing environment, foundational optical materials are being reassessed not as background inputs, but as contributors to overall fab capability.The fab is producing more than chips — it is producing the hardware foundation of data infrastructureOne of the most important shifts now underway is that semiconductor fabs are no longer just manufacturing devices in isolation. They are producing the hardware foundation for the next generation of data infrastructure.That includes processors, memory, photonic and optical components, and advanced packages designed to move, store, and process data more effectively. As a result, the quality of fab output is increasingly tied to the quality of the enabling infrastructure within the fab itself.This is leading to a broader reassessment of what matters in semiconductor manufacturing. Materials suppliers, optics providers, and component makers are not simply supporting production in the background. They are helping define the precision environment that advanced manufacturing now requires.As scaling becomes harder, process integration becomes more difficult, and end-market expectations continue to rise, that foundation matters more. Companies building the next generation of data-centric systems are beginning to recognize that reliable throughput starts with reliable manufacturing — and reliable manufacturing depends on the quality of the materials embedded throughout the fab ecosystem.A broader precision ecosystem will shape the next phase of growthAs the semiconductor industry expands capacity to support accelerated computing and next-generation data center infrastructure, competitiveness will depend on more than access to advanced tools or leading-edge process nodes. It will also depend on the strength of the precision ecosystem around the fab.That includes the materials that help equipment stay stable, the optical platforms that support inspection and imaging, and the component technologies that reduce variability in increasingly complex production environments. For fabs, OEMs, and supply-chain partners, the message is becoming clearer: better data infrastructure begins with better manufacturing infrastructure, and better manufacturing infrastructure depends on the materials selected to support it.The modern fab remains the center of semiconductor innovation. But as demand grows for faster and more reliable data throughput, its success will be shaped increasingly by the precision ecosystem built beneath it.

As AI, high-performance computing (HPC), and advanced packaging continue to move toward higher levels of power integration, chip power consumption is rising rapidly. Thermal management has therefore become a critical factor affecting performance, reliability, and system design. World Diamond Technology is advancing its large-area diamond growth technology and accelerating the mass production of 300 mm diamond wafers to address the thermal management needs of AI chips and advanced packaging. Five Key Priorities for Mass ProductionThe 300 mm wafer is currently the mainstream format in advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Scaling diamond materials from conventional smaller sizes to 300 mm involves far more than simply increasing the surface area. It also presents multiple technical challenges related to large-area material processing, uniformity, thickness, flatness, internal stress, and surface quality. World Diamond Technology has continued to advance its large-area diamond growth technology and has secured a Taiwan patent (TW Patent: I840846). Its mass-production strategy focuses on five key priorities:(1)Optimizing the diamond growth process through proprietary WDCVDTM diamond growth technology to ensure consistency across large-area wafers.(2)Precisely controlling wafer thickness and uniformity to meet the stringent requirements of advanced packaging thermal management modules.(3)Strengthening flatness and internal stress management to improve yield and reliability.(4)Optimizing surface quality and process consistency to minimize defects.(5)Continuously improving production yield and capacity while establishing a stable supply chain to support customers' volume-production requirements. By advancing toward the 300 mm format, World Diamond Technology aims to increase the potential for integrating diamond materials with existing semiconductor processes and wafer-level application platforms, enabling diamond to progress from a specialty material toward large-scale adoption across the semiconductor industry. Advantages of Diamond MaterialsDiamond offers multiple advantages as a thermal management material. Its thermal conductivity can exceed 1,500 W/(m·K), significantly outperforming conventional heat-dissipation materials. Diamond also features an extremely low coefficient of thermal expansion, helping substantially improve device reliability.In addition, diamond delivers exceptional hardness, wear resistance, high-temperature durability, and chemical stability. These properties enable it to resist corrosion, operate reliably in high-temperature environments, extend product service life, and reduce the total cost of ownership. Targeting AI Chips and Advanced Packaging ApplicationsWorld Diamond Technology's  300 mm diamond wafers will focus on high-power, high-heat-flux semiconductor applications, including:(1)AI GPUs and HPC systems(2)Data centers and servers(3)2.5D and 3D advanced packaging(4)High-power laser devices(5)Automotive electronics and power modules As advanced packaging architectures become increasingly complex, thermal management is evolving from conventional system-level cooling toward package-level, device-level, and even wafer-level solutions. Consequently, the importance of high-thermal-conductivity materials will continue to grow. Diamond Technology Powering a High-Efficiency FutureWorld Diamond Technology stated that the 300 mm diamond wafer represents an important milestone in the company's efforts to industrialize large-area diamond materials. In the next phase, the company will continue to focus on process stabilization, yield improvement, specification standardization, customer validation, and the establishment of volume-production capabilities. It will also actively pursue collaboration with semiconductor manufacturers, advanced packaging companies, thermal module suppliers, and end-system providers. To meet the rapidly growing thermal management demands of the AI era, World Diamond Technology will continue to advance diamond materials from material development to practical semiconductor applications. The company is accelerating the establishment of a comprehensive technology portfolio spanning diamond wafers, diamond lids, diamond heat spreaders, and system-level thermal management solutions, positioning itself to capture opportunities in the next generation of high-power chips and advanced packaging. Discover the latest developments in diamond wafer technology at SEMICON Taiwan 2026. We cordially invite you to visit World Diamond Technology at Booth S7546 on the 4th floor of Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, Hall 2.