Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has reached Taiwan with an aim to restrengthen the chipmaker’s supply chain in the region and improve foundry capacity at TSMC’s advanced process nodes. Before taking off on the flight to Taiwan, Gelsinger had a few words for his Taiwanese partners and employees. Starting off by explaining the impact of the pandemic on the semiconductor industry, and the chip shortages, Gelsinger noted Taiwan’s contributions to the industry. Calling the island nation the “center of digital innovation”, he revealed that Taiwan is home to more than 1,000 Intel employees.
Intel has worked with TSMC and other Taiwanese partners over the last 36 years to supplement and enhance its own foundry capacity to produce cutting-edge products. He stated that the Taiwanese foundry has assisted Intel and the rest of the semi industry in many ways to create products that would have never existed otherwise. He went on to congratulate TSMC, calling its achievements “really remarkable”.
The more interesting bit of the video was with respect to Intel’s investment plans in Taiwan. Gelsinger explained that the company plans to solve the semiconductor shortages by establishing factors and fabs across the Americas, Europe, and Asia, including Taiwan. Calling it a “safe and flexible” supply chain, the Intel CEO hopes to meet the growing demand of the world.
This is quite ironic as Gelsinger recently called Taiwan “unsafe”, and warned the industry from becoming overreliant on TSMC for its supply of critical chips. You can read the entire transcript below:
Hi everyone, my name is Pat Gelsinger, and I am going to take a flight to Taiwan. I am very happy to be able to return to Taiwan, to this place I have visited many times, but it was only affected by the epidemic. After I became the CEO of Intel, I have not had the opportunity to return here until now. Since we attach great importance to the safety regulations and measures related to epidemic prevention, I can only meet a few people in Taiwan this time. This is why I recorded this short video first to share my thoughts with you.
As you have heard me share, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerates all digitization processes, stimulating rapid innovation and unprecedented work, learning, and interaction modes. This transition has brought explosive growth to the demand for semiconductors, and semiconductors are even more important to today’s economic pulsation.
Taiwan is at the center of digital innovation. Taiwan has a complete, abundant, and vibrant ecosystem that interweaves the energy of technology, culture, commerce, and competition, and has become one of the key hubs of our industry. In the past few decades, Taiwan has created amazing and brilliant results!
Taiwan is also home to more than 1,000 outstanding Intel employees. They have worked closely with our customers and partners in Taiwan over the past 36 years to provide you with leading and excellent products.
Among these partnerships, what I want to mention is our long-term and profound relationship with TSMC. TSMC has assisted Intel and the industry in many ways to unleash the possibility of chips and create products that have never been seen before. TSMC’s achievements are really remarkable.
Today, semiconductors are receiving more attention than ever before. Without semiconductors, everything would stop functioning. We are all working hard to solve the problem of wafer shortage, which not only highlights the importance of semiconductors but also highlights the importance of the supply chain. The semiconductor industry needs to find a global solution to meet the amazing demand for our technology.
We must build factories faster, operate with higher yields, install more equipment, and consider the future balance of the global supply chain in the process.
This means establishing factories in diverse geographic regions, including Taiwan and other key locations around the world. This will allow us to have a safe and flexible supply chain to meet the needs of continuous growth and innovation.
When I took over as CEO of this iconic company 10 months ago, I vowed not only to bring this company back to glory but also to let it play an important role in solving the problem of chip shortages. Our goal is to ensure that the global and national innovation engines can maintain sound development in the coming decades.
This means establishing factories in diverse geographic regions, including Taiwan and other key locations around the world. This will allow us to have a safe and flexible supply chain to meet the needs of continuous growth and innovation.
Intel looks forward to continuing to cultivate and work hard in Taiwan because our employees and ecosystem partners in Taiwan are vital to Intel, the technology industry, and the world.
Thank you for your partnership and support in 2021. I look forward to continuing to work with you in the coming year and work together to promote more innovation
