MediaTek CEO: Part of the supply chain is "gradually" leaving Taiwan, China

According to Reuters, Cai Lixing, CEO of smartphone chip design company MediaTek, said recently that tensions between China and the United States are driving some manufacturers to discuss shifting some of their supply chains from Taiwan, although this is "gradual". ".

According to the source, Cai Lixing said that some "very large equipment manufacturers will require their chip suppliers to have multiple regional sources, such as from Taiwan and the United States, or from Germany or Europe. In this case, I think if Business needs, we will have to find multiple regional supply sources for the same chip."

Such things have happened, but not on a large scale, he added.

MediaTek announced earlier this year that it would produce its chips at Intel Corp.'s manufacturing facility. Cai Lixing said that the "Intel 16" chip manufacturing technology that MediaTek has promised to use is very suitable for the production of MediaTek chips for smart TVs and Wi-Fi. Some of its chips will be produced at Intel's Irish manufacturing facility from the second half of 2024.

Cai Lixing said MediaTek will also produce chips when TSMC's Arizona fab is up and running. He said that it is unrealistic for the chip industry to completely leave Taiwan, China, which is the most important advanced chip manufacturing region in the world.

Recently, MediaTek released the Dimensity 9200 flagship 5G mobile chip, which is based on TSMC’s second-generation 4nm process. According to Chen Guanzhou, general manager of MediaTek, Dimensity's flagship 5G mobile chip is committed to shaping high performance, high energy efficiency, and low power consumption into the genetic characteristics of Dimensity's flagship product. It is reported that smartphones equipped with this chip will be launched by the end of 2022.

In the past month, the "de-Taiwanization" of the semiconductor industry has attracted attention. Affected by the new crown epidemic and the US chip export control regulations, the importance of Taiwan, China to the semiconductor industry has become increasingly clear. The "semiconductor global localization" led by the United States is in full swing. Although the semiconductor industry has a fine division of labor, it is not a short period of one or two years. The competitive advantage of industrial clusters can be established, but it is undeniable that the United States will inevitably continue to promote the "semiconductor global localization" and strive not to be caught by TSMC in the neck of chip manufacturing.