Taipei, Nov. 29 (CNA) Driven by a plan to roll out chips using 3 nm process technology in the near future, the production value of Taiwan's semiconductor industry is forecast to hit NT$5 trillion (US$161.54 billion) in 2023, representing a 6.1 percent year-on-year increase, the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) said Tuesday.
The projected growth rate would outperform the global average of minus 3.6 percent, ITRI, the leading technology R&D institution in Taiwan, told an online news conference on the outlook of the manufacturing sector and semiconductor industry in Taiwan next year.
Despite global political and economic volatility this year, Taiwan's semiconductor industry will see output value top NT$4.7 trillion in 2022, up by 15.6 percent from 2021 due to demand for artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, and high performance computing (HPC), ITRI said.
With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker, slated to kick off mass production of chips made using the 3 nm process in the coming months, ITRI said it expects Taiwan to continue to play a leadership role worldwide despite huge challenges ahead.
According to ITRI, the future growth of Taiwan's semiconductor industry lies in innovative applications related to automotive chips and the metaverse as ways of implementing and creating HPC systems at big companies.
At the same time, local industry continues to manufacture advanced mini chips that achieve performance improvements by incorporating 3D IC systems, it said.
The institute highlighted Taiwan's potential to create a global semiconductor industry ecosystem based on its highly developed local industry and intensively clustered networks.
Also Tuesday, ITRI lowered its forecast for the production value of Taiwan's manufacturing sector to NT$25.49 trillion this year, representing an annual growth rate of 4.76 percent.
It also projected that the output value of the local manufacturing sector will reach NT$26.32 trillion in 2023, a year-on-year growth rate of 3.24 percent due to dwindling demand as a result of political and economic volatility across the globe.
