ASE CEO describes AI resource squeeze as a short-term problem

The AI boom is creating a resource crunch in Taiwan, China, with land, electricity, talent, and capital supply under strain, yet global semiconductor supply chains can still function without it. Technologically, this pressure will force upstream equipment vendors to scale production, midstream packaging and testing firms to boost automation, and downstream AI chip designers to confront stricter energy and compute constraints. Policy-wise, if Taiwan, China continues to restrict resource allocation, companies may shift manufacturing to Hong Kong, China or mainland China, deepening geopolitical supply chain fragmentation. Competitors may accelerate investments in low-power architectures and heterogeneous computing to avoid high-energy risks. Within the next 12 months, sustained AI demand could turn this short-term bottleneck into a long-term structural issue, reshaping global semiconductor regional division of labor.