00:00President Lai and Micron's CEO met at the presidential office. Lai said that Micron's investment in Taiwan is the best proof of U.S.-Taiwan cooperation. Why is Micron so important to Taiwan?
00:11Micron is today the largest foreign employer in Taiwan. So if you look at the workforce for Micron in Taiwan, I think it's probably around about 12,000 right now.
00:22And that's quite significant. This is growing. Some of their newest technology is here for advanced packaging for HBM. A lot of their team is here who's supporting for the AI supply chain.
00:38So I think in this regards, this is nothing which is driven by all the current geopolitical movement. This is really driven because of the technology infrastructure.
00:48And when TSMC is very strong on logic, they also need memory. And there is Micron probably the biggest one in Taiwan right now.
00:59The new U.S.-Taiwan trade deal significantly increases Taiwanese investment in the U.S., especially TSMC's.
01:05As the Taiwan government tries to garner support for the deal, it's using Micron to show that investment between the U.S. and Taiwan is mutual.
01:13Is Micron's investment in Taiwan comparable to TSMC's investment in the U.S.?
01:19I would not say because I think the investment from Micron is commercially driven and the investment from TSMC is because of policy driven.
01:28So I understand also that Taiwan is providing also some subsidy support to Micron.
01:33Micron is going because of the business. So it's pretty clear. It's because of the ecosystem you have in Taiwan.
01:39This is very important for a memory company to be here.
01:44You have also other memory companies with own fabs in Taiwan, which is Winbond, which is Nanya, and which is also Powerchips.
01:52And if you look, for example, for TSMC, TSMC is investing.
01:56I mean, the numbers are minimum 165 billion up to some people say to 300 billion if everything comes into place.
02:03So Micron probably at the moment invests, I would say, since the last couple of years and looking forward, probably one trillion NTDs or like 30 billion, 35 billion.
02:15So that's also like a completely different level.
02:18Are there any other U.S. companies significantly making investments in Taiwan?
02:22You have American companies like LAM Research, KLA, and they also did already significant investments here.
02:29But also, for example, NVIDIA, I mean, they do in Shilin, in Taipei City, where they will have a new company headquarter for the region.
02:39You have AMD, but also you have the hyperscalers who come here, right?
02:43You have Google, for example, here. You have Amazon here.
02:46And I'm telling you, it was a very, very smart move.
02:49You know, yes, Taiwan is like semiconductor hub and it's very important.
02:53And other companies and regions want to do this.
02:56But now becoming like an AI supply chain hub where you have different stacks.
03:02You have technology, you have design, you have manufacturing.
03:06You have, for example, companies like Wistron, Compal, who are basically building servers.
03:11So you have like a high value ecosystem for AI.
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