Taiwan Enjoys Growing Role in Electronics Startup Ecosystem
Source: EE Times
This year’s Computex in Taiwan did something way beyond anything its industry leaders were expecting in terms of national PR. It was the glowing recognition of its pivotal role in the industry, beyond just being known for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s (TSMC’s) significance to the electronics industry. There was recognition of everyone through the value chain, including startups. EE Times took the opportunity to interview many of these local and global startups at the show, including moderating the startup pitches at the Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) pavilion.
Before we turn to those startup interviews, one thing to note is that several leading CEOs decided it was the time to recognize the importance of Taiwan at Computex 2024, even if it was to serve their own PR needs. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang talked about the “unappreciated unsung heroes here in Taiwan” during his talks at the show.
“The ecosystem here is incredible,” he said, referring to everything from chip manufacturing to packaging, assembly and test. “This is really an extraordinary place,” he added.
As Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger addressed almost a dozen CEOs from Intel’s customers and partners in the PC manufacturing ecosystem sitting in the front row during his keynote at the show, he remarked, “I love the central role that Taiwan plays in the tech ecosystem.” He added that Taiwan is at the heartland of innovation, referring specifically to systems running edge AI workloads.
One of the organizations involved in nurturing and promoting the startup ecosystem in Taiwan (in partnership with other partners) is the TTA. I was invited on behalf of EE Times to moderate two days of pitches from over a dozen startups on its pavilion at Computex. It was fascinating to see the diversity of startups in this little snapshot of the emerging high growth companies there, ranging from various companies targeting AI applications across different verticals to chip developers, cybersecurity, and robotics technologies.
The startups I listened to and then probed into their technology, business model, and target markets and customers include DeepWave (an AI audio processing platform), Ranictek (a developer of 5G and beyond baseband chips), Decentralized Biotechnology Intelligence (an AIoT health wearable tech company), Jmemtek (a cybersecurity chip IP company), Racer Tech (a display IC company), and Wisdomer (a drone developer).
Beyond this, we then talked further with some of the TTA supported companies and others on camera in formal interviews, which you can find below:
Our interview with Jmemtek CEO John Chang about embedded security:
Our interview with Kneron CEO Albert Liu about the company’s latest edge GPT AI chip:
Our interview with Skymizer CMO William Wei about compiler software for AI SoCs, and also his story of how he first met Steve Jobs of Apple in the early days and working with him:
Our interview with Alif Semiconductor CEO Syed Ali about AI-enabled 32-bit microcontrollers and how AI-enabled applications will grow hugely:
Our interview with Seagate Technology Global VP of brand strategy Rosalina Hiu about the importance of storage technologies for generative AI:
Our interview with ADAT Technology General Manager Kevin Su about AR software platforms used to address talent shortages in operations for various industries, including semiconductors and displays:
Our interview with Homee AI CEO Kenny Du about how, without a tech background, he was able to start an AI spatial planning and design business: