Copper-clad laminate (CCL) manufacturers are confident about the demand for AI applications as they actively delve into the supply chain for AI servers.
Taiwan's Ministry of Finance (MOF) released preliminary import and export trade statistics for March 2024 and found that under the strong global demand for AI servers, Taiwan's overall exports showed significant growth despite the decline in IC exports.
Worldwide sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment edged down 1.3% to US$106.3 billion in 2023, from an all-time high of US$107.6 billion in 2022, according to SEMI.
With new energy and semiconductor components as its two major operating engines, Taiwan's Win Win Precision Technology is looking to advanced light storage and smart energy management solutions, as well as semiconductor innovations to bolster its growth momentum in 2024 and beyond, according to chairman Davis Chen.
Taiwan's PCB and IC substrate market will first stagnate before seeing a sharp increase in 2024, according to Maurice Lee, chairman of the Taiwan Printed Circuit Association (TPCA).
China's production capacity in mature semiconductor processes has continued to grow with the substantial financial backing of the government. For power semiconductor manufacturer Force-MOS, the company has been avoiding the cutthroat price slashing in China's electric vehicle (EV) market, and as MOSFET wafer shipments held steady in the first quarter of 2024, order volumes are expected to remain at the same level reaching into the second quarter.
Operations at Taiwan-based PCB and OSAT companies have returned to normal after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit the island on April 3. As Taiwan becomes a critical IC production hub worldwide, industry players advocated forming a partnership with Japanese companies to mitigate risks caused by natural disasters.
At Embedded World on April 9, SiFive, Inc., the pioneer and leader of RISC-V computing, unveiled its new state-of-the-art RISC-V development board, the HiFive Premier P550.
WT Microelectronics (WT Micro) announced that it has officially completed its acquisition of Future Electronics. This is the biggest M&A project in the history of Taiwan's semiconductor industry. The move made WT Micro the world's top semiconductor distributor by market share.
The output value of Taiwan's PCB industry is anticipated to be propelled by emerging market applications, such as AI servers, EVs, and satellite communications this year.
The IC substrate sector is predicted to return to growth in the second half of 2024, with the growth momentum continuing in 2025, according to industry sources.
Optical device maker EZconn is seeing strong revenue and gross profit growth in the first quarter of 2024, thanks to the robust demand from broadband infrastructure construction in the US and bandwidth demand boosted by artificial intelligence (AI).
Despite ongoing geopolitical tensions and inventory adjustments, the global PCB industry is poised for a resurgence, buoyed by robust demand for AI and HPC.
According to market data, AI has become the growth driver for semiconductor companies as companies engaged in AI chips and equipment saw their market values surge.
MOSFET startup Inergy Technology has recently developed new BLDC electric motor drivers for cloud server and data center cooling systems. Trial production with major server customers in Japan and Taiwan is currently underway, according to company chairman and president John Lin.
According to industry sources, PCBs for satellite communication and automotive applications are in high demand, prompting Taiwanese PCB makers to scale up their production capacity for High Density Interconnect (HDI) boards to meet the growing market need.
SEMICON China 2024, which was held in Shanghai on March 20-22, attracted many Japanese semiconductor equipment manufacturers to showcase their front-end and backend mature node process equipment. Quite a few are related to power semiconductors.
