SEMICON SEA 2026: the trillion-dollar chip era is already here

At SEMICON SEA 2026, SEMI President and CEO Ajit Manocha announced that the global semiconductor industry is entering a 'multi-trillion-dollar' growth cycle earlier than expected. This assessment refl... Read original →

SEMI’s 'multi-trillion-dollar era' declaration at SEMICON SEA 2026 reflects structural demand from AI and edge computing forcing a global fab reconfiguration. Technically, advanced packaging and wide-bandgap semiconductors will shift to Southeast Asia—but the region lacks sub-28nm ecosystems, creating a gap between imported high-end tools and local support capabilities. Compliance-wise, U.S. CHIPS Act restrictions and EU carbon tariffs are inflating hidden costs for new fabs, forcing firms to balance supply chain redundancy against geopolitical neutrality. TSMC and Intel are rapidly expanding backend operations in Malaysia and Vietnam, while SMIC remains sidelined by export controls, tilting regional competition toward U.S.-aligned players. Within 18 months, without a unified talent credentialing framework and green-energy consortium, Southeast Asia risks becoming a high-energy, low-value assembly hub—missing its only real shot at core supply chain integration.