Taipei, Nov. 1 (CNA) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker, is expected to break ground on a new research and development center in Hsinchu next year.

At an annual convention organized by the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association (TSIA) Thursday, TSMC Chairman Mark Liu described the center as Taiwan's equivalent to Bell Labs, a globally renowned R&D institution that has been established in the United States for over 90 years.

The R&D center will be built in the Hsinchu Science Park over some 32 hectares and has already passed a city government environmental impact assessment in July this year.

The site has the capacity to house some 8,000 researchers, who will help spearhead TSMC's research for the next 20 to 30 years, Liu said.

Taiwan's basic research efforts still need to be strengthened, he went on, noting that the government's investment in technology development is so small that only 3 percent of its fiscal budget is used in semiconductor research each year.

The semiconductor market can change and evolve with each passing day, and the industry needs to play catchup in order to stay competitive, according to the TSMC chairman, who succeeded the company's retired founder, Morris Chang, last year.

Date：2019-11-02                                Source：CNA