13. 2. 2025
After several months of delays, Taiwan is officially launching its third research and development centre for semiconductor chips in Czechia. According to E15, the Czech Technical University in Prague (ČVUT) has signed a final agreement with the Taiwan Semiconductor Research Institute (TSRI), part of NARLabs, under Taiwan’s Ministry of Science. The new Taiwan Chip Academy in Prague will complement existing centres in Brno and at Charles University. The establishment of these semiconductor centres results from political efforts led by Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Markéta Pekarová Adamová and Senate President Miloš Vystrčil and other politicians, officials and academics. Taiwan, which is the dominant world power in the custom production of the most advanced chips, became interested in the Czech Republic when the colossus TSMC started building a factory in nearby Dresden. Taiwan sees Czechia as a potential research, training, and supply chain partner.
Taiwan first opened the so-called Supply Chain Resilience Center at Charles University. "We deal with the geopolitics of supply chains and their resilience, which is important for Taiwan, also given the security risk in the form of China," explained David Emler, director of this centre Last autumn, Brno saw the launch of the Advanced Chip Design and Research Center (ACDRC), a joint initiative involving Taiwan, Brno University of Technology (VUT), ČVUT, and Masaryk University. The purpose is to conduct joint research with companies from Taiwan, which are already opening their first offices in Brno, and to transfer this research into practice.
The third centre is expected to open next month, although it was initially planned for last fall. However, due to changes in the members of the government in Taiwan changes in the original plan occurred. The original agreement was that Taiwan aimed to fund a training centre for chip professionals at ČVUT. The rector of the Czech Technical University, Vojtěch Petráček, told e15 that the ambition was to train up to a hundred people a year. This was eventually dropped and the centre will instead focus on joint research between Taiwanese and Czech universities. "The contracting parties have agreed to cooperate together in the field of design and research of chip technologies," the agreement states.
"From our point of view, the result of the negotiations is very good. We are already receiving various offers for exchange stays for students and employees," Radek Holý, vice-rector of CTU, who is in charge of semiconductor activities with Taiwan, told e15. ČVUT will allocate space for the centre within its Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics, and Cybernetics (CIIRC) and will also host summer semiconductor courses with visiting Taiwanese experts. ČVUT has been strengthening ties with Taiwan for some time. In late January, Professor Poki Chen from the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology received an honorary doctorate from ČVUT and currently teaches courses in integrated circuits in Prague. The universities will focus on joint research in the design of analogue and digital integrated circuits, sensors, semiconductor detectors, cybersecurity and AI in chips or the development of software tools for chip design. These are all state-of-the-art technologies that the Czech Republic is interested in developing.
Last year, the National Semiconductor Strategy was approved for the further development of the field, and the first steps are now being taken. For example, the Ministry of Education is preparing a contract-based funding program for universities to train specialists in critical fields, starting with semiconductors. VUT in Brno has announced a new modern chip and semiconductor program, which is expected to graduate up to 100 students per year. Taiwan is also exploring the Czech Republic for other possible investments. The CTi Cable company in Klecany will start producing cables for fast data transmission, typically for HDMI, USB, Ethernet or DisplayPort, in the P3 industrial park. The investment is to amount to 120 million crowns. CTi wants the Czech Republic to be a centre for expansion into Europe. "The Czech Republic is located in the heart of Europe, which provides a strategic advantage for distributing products across the continent. In addition, the Czech Republic has a long tradition and recognized skills in manufacturing and innovation, especially in technology-intensive industries," described Sunny Lin, Vice President of CTi Cable.
Source: https://aktualne.cvut.cz/zpravy-z-medii/20250213-tchaj-wan-v-cesku-po-odkladech-rozjizdi-treti-cipove-centrum-zameri-se-na
