Taiwan is still the world’s semiconductor manufacturing center. That was the word from Economics Minister Wang Mei-hua on Tuesday when asked about Intel’s partnership deal with MediaTek.
On Monday, Taiwanese chip designer MediaTek Inc announced a strategic partnership with Intel Corp to manufacture chips using the American company’s 16-nanometer process technology. That will allow MediaTek to source chips produced in the United States and Europe.
Wang says Taiwan has a comprehensive ecosystem for the production of microchips. The Intel-Mediatek partnership won’t affect Mediatek’s cooperation with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest chip foundry.
Intel says the arrangement will give MediaTek a more balanced and resilient supply chain through "significant" manufacturing capacity in the United States and Europe.
The Intel Foundry Services (IFS) was established in 2021 to help meet the surging global demand for advanced semiconductor manufacturing capacity. In 2021, more than 60% of foundry revenue was based in Taiwan.
In 2021, MediaTek was the fourth largest fabless chip designer behind Qualcomm, Nvidia and Broadcom.