SEMICON Taiwan 2004

Taiwan, home to companies such as TSMC, UMC, ProMOS, Nanya and Powerchip, remains a hot spot for semiconductor and display manufacturing and activity. The Taiwan equipment market is expected to grow 57% in 2004 and 21% in 2005. According to George Lin, SEMI's president of Southeast Asia, capital spending on equipment is expected to be $7-9B this year. Another $4.2-4.6B will be spent on materials.

SEMICON Taiwan 2004 will be held Sept. 13-14 at the Taipei World Trade Center. Last year's show drew more than 15,400 visitors and 507 exhibitors. This year, the show will expand into Hall 3 (in previous years, the entire show was held in Hall 1). The show hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday.

"We are going to have 1300 booths or more (a single exhibitor will occupy multiple booths). In the past, there was only one hall, Hall 1," Lin said. "However, there is a new hall called Hall 3, kitty-corner to Hall 1. It's much smaller, with only about 300 booths. But, for the first time, we are going to use that. Hall 1 can have about 1100 booths."

This year's show will also feature pavilions from different countries: the UK, Germany and France. "Each will have a pavilion to showcase their technology," Lin said. There will also be a new emphasis on compound semiconductor technology and MEMS technology.

The Semiconductor Manufacturing and Technology Workshop (SMTW) will be held the week before SEMICON Taiwan, and will be sponsored by the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association. This comes to Taiwan once every two years, but it has previously been held in December. SEMICON Taiwan will feature a technical symposium, but organizers have designed it so that it does not duplicate what will be covered in the SMTW.

Taiwan has the highest concentration of 300 mm fabs in the world, and there is a new focus on them. "Engineers in Taiwan see the need for having SEMI standards," Lin said. "During the past year or so, they've organized some workshops and got hooked up with SEMI headquarters. Last December, they were officially accepted into the SEMI International Standards community. Now, they can have their voice in there and they can vote and submit proposed standards." SEMICON Taiwan will also host various standards meetings on 300 mm fabs and other topics.

The display industry in Taiwan is also quite strong. Lin said there is a new research park under development that will focus on displays. There are already two large industrial parks in Taiwan — Hsinchu in the north, and Tainan in the south. The new one, Taichung, will be in the middle of the island.