Judges watch a humanoid robot perform at the gymnastics floor exercise competition during the second World Humanoid Robot Games at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing yesterday.
Taiwan and other technology democracies have a "golden but narrowing" three-to-five-year window to lay the foundations for an advanced robotics supply chain outside China, particularly for humanoid robots, a Taiwan-based researcher said yesterday. A report released on Monday by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) examines China-West competition in physical artificial intelligence (AI) and Taiwan’s potential role in developing alternatives to Chinese robot supply chains. Humanoid robots remain unproven, meaning China’s lead in shipments currently has a limited impact on the real economy, Nathanael Cheng (鄭秉信), a policy analyst in the DSET Economic Security Program, said in a
SPECIALTY SUPPLIES: Taiwan is ushering in a major shift in industrial upgrades and a local alliance will reinforce supply chain resilience, SEMI president Terry Tsao said SEMI Taiwan launched a semiconductor materials alliance yesterday to fortify industry resilience, capitalizing on surging domestic demand fueled by advanced nodes and next-generation packaging. Taiwan has been the world’s largest semiconductor materials consumer for 16 years in a row, the industry association said. Taiwan purchased about US$21.7 billion of semiconductor materials last year, driven by artificial intelligence (AI)-related demand, SEMI data showed. The spending accounted for 30 percent of global semiconductor materials consumption, totaling US$73.2 billion, the data showed. “Demand for specialty gases, chemicals and key raw materials are rising in Taiwan, fueled by the technology advancements to 2-nanometer and advanced packaging technologies,” SEMI
