Integrated photonics and edge applications are becoming a focal point for collaboration between the Netherlands and Taiwan. Backed by new funding and shared ambitions, both sides are exploring how European research strength and Taiwanese manufacturing power can reinforce each other.
For decades, Taiwan’s venerable semiconductor ecosystem has been tightly coupled to the United States. The logic is straightforward: The world’s largest chip design firms are overwhelmingly American. These companies define the roadmap; the rest of the world follows. In the age of AI, this situation isn’t about to change. “US firms own the systems. They own the most advanced ICs. AI chips, cloud infrastructure – everything,” says Wei-Chung Lo, deputy general director of electronic and optoelectronic systems research laboratories at the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Taiwan’s largest research organization for applied technology.
But that strong interdependence isn’t standing in the way of ITRI looking in other directions as well. Europe, in particular, is moving up the priority list. “We want to be closer to Europe as well. If we’re looking for pioneering projects or frontier technologies, Europe always has very good concepts and innovative ideas,” Wei-Chung notes.
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