Tainan, Taiwan, January 27, 2014

National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has unveiled the “TSMC-NCKU Joint Research Center” on January 14, aiming to move the industry up the value chain, stimulate comprehensive research on semiconductor manufacturing science and technology while committing to personnel training and academia-industry collaboration.

Located in the IDC Instrument Building at NCKU Tzu-Chiang Campus, the unveiling ceremony of the newly established research center was jointly hosted by NCKU President Hwung-Hweng Hwung and TSMC Vice President of Research and Development and Chief Technology Officer Dr. Jack Sun. 

TSMC also presented a 12-inch wafer with the lettering “Academia-Industry Co-Prosperity”, made specially to celebrate the success of establishing the new research center.

“Due to limited funding from the Ministry of Education, universities have to develop academia-industry collaborations to raise funds,” explained President Hwung. “On the other hand, TSMC is a benchmark for high technology industries and already has considerable research and development (R&D) capabilities, which would create multiplier effect if TSMC collaborates with universities.”

President Hwung said, “NCKU, ranked alongside Duke University and Johns Hopkins University as the world’s best universities in academia-industry collaborations, has led the way in this context and also stimulate the development of academia-industry collaborations in National Taiwan University (NTU), National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) and others.”

The NCKU-TSMC collaboration model involves fund allocation from both parties who jointly develop research projects by appointing their personnel to carry out research collaboration, according to President Hwung.

In other words, both parties will share the same load and responsibility which can then effectively produce results, he added.

“TSMC Nano-Precision Industry is a professional developer of wafer whose current competitors are US-based Intel Corporation and Samsung Corporation from South Korea, and has invested USD150 billion in the construction of three factories in Southern Taiwan Science Park, which will serve as the world’s top wafer manufacturing plants,” revealed TSMC’s Dr. Jack Sun.

TSMC took the opportunity to express their gratitude in nurturing excellent talents with superior teamwork skills as NCKU engineering graduates form the second largest group of engineers in the company. 

Currently, TSMC has established joint research centers in NTU, NCKU, NTHU and National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), where all the four research centers will work on different research areas. 

With the establishment of the TSMC-NCKU Joint Research Center, Dr. Sun looks forward to forging close collaborations with NCKU’s outstanding professors and students for the development of Taiwan’s semiconductor research, thus enhancing TSMC’s and Taiwan’s status in the global semiconductor industry.

“TSMC-NCKU Joint Research Center” will also offer scholarships to undergraduates, Masters and Doctoral students while initiating efforts to jointly open the Nanotechnology and Equipment Engineering program to nurture exceptional personnel in the semiconductor field. 

Moreover, both NCKU and TSMC will use resources of this joint research center to obtain more research funds from National Science Council and other government bodies to achieve the mutual benefits from this academia-industry collaboration, thus establishing NCKU as an important research ground for semiconductor research in southern Taiwan.