SEMICON Taiwan 2026 officially opened on Wednesday (Sept. 2), with an afternoon fireside chat bringing together senior executives from TSMC (台積電), MediaTek (聯發科), ASE (日月光), Hon Hai (鴻海) and Unimicron (欣興).
When ASE CEO Tien Wu (吳田玉) asked about Taiwan's unique value in the global supply chain, MediaTek CEO Rick Tsai (蔡力行) jokingly called for more capacity. He went on to say that Taiwan's flexibility, intelligence and diligence give it a critical role in the AI era. As the industry moves toward humanoid robots, Tsai said Taiwan can build on its strength in the chips that serve as their brains and work with partners for mutual benefit.
Tsai Says Taiwan's Tech Industry Is Like a Family
At the start of the discussion, Wu praised Tsai as a leading figure in the semiconductor industry, citing his experience in wafer manufacturing and MediaTek's move into system architecture. Wu asked how the core value Taiwan's technology industry has provided to global customers over the past several decades should be defined.Tsai replied that the session was meant to be a relaxed fireside chat rather than a formal speech. He then asked industry partners about capacity for the coming years, drawing laughter from the audience.
Tsai said Taiwan's semiconductor companies work closely together across the supply chain, from MediaTek's chip design and TSMC's foundry services to ASE's advanced packaging and testing, as well as substrates and other components. He described the companies as a close-knit family of partners and said deep trust among them is key to Taiwan's ability to continue creating added value.
Tsai said the combination of flexibility, intelligence and diligence found in Taiwan is rare. The AI era is creating enormous business opportunities, he said, but customer demands are also becoming more stringent, particularly when it comes to how quickly production capacity can ramp up. He said Taiwan is the only place in the world capable of scaling production that quickly while maintaining high quality and meeting customer timelines.
Tsai on How Taiwan Can Maintain Its Advantage
When asked how Taiwan can maintain its advantage amid geopolitical changes, Tsai said Taiwan's greatest strength is its role as a hardware infrastructure provider. While the country still faces challenges in software development, it is gradually moving toward greater system-level integration in areas including data centers and robotics.Tsai said there is also room for improvement in sensing technology. Taiwan, however, can build on its hardware strengths by working with leading global partners, sharing resources and expanding collaboration across borders rather than keeping everything on the island, while continuing to expand its influence in global markets.