MediaTek CEO sees manufacturers expanding supply chain beyond TaiwanBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterTensions between the US and China are causing some manufacturers to discuss moving some of their supply chain away from Taiwan, although the pace is “incremental,” Reuters reported yesterday, citing MediaTek Inc (聯發科) chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行). “I think in those cases, we will have to find multiple sources for the same chip if the business warrants that,” Tsai said. MediaTek chief executive officer Rick Tsai speaks to reporters in Taipei on Nov. 18, 2020. Photo: Ann Wang, ReutersReuters said MediaTek’s most advanced smartphone chips are made at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) plants in Taiwan, with some older smartphone chips being made by GlobalFoundries Inc in the US and Singapore. With TSMC constructing a US$12 billion plant in Arizona, MediaTek would also be producing chips there when it begins production, Tsai said.
