Taiwan's rise as chip design hub threatens U.S. dominance

Proximity to TSMC helps MediaTek and compatriots take 4 slots on top 10 list

U.S. companies have dominated chip design even as they have outsourced fabrication. Now Taiwanese players are starting to encroach on this turf.

YU NAKAMURA and HIDEAKI RYUGEN, Nikkei staff writers

April 28, 2022 02:17 JST

TAIPEI -- Taiwan, long known as a global leader in semiconductor fabrication, is starting to make inroads upstream into design as well, going up against American companies that had seen the island mainly as a manufacturing hub.

Taiwanese research company TrendForce's ranking of the top 10 chip design companies by revenue in 2021 put Taiwan's MediaTek at No. 4, with compatriots Novatek Microelectronics coming in sixth and Realtek Semiconductor at No. 8. Himax Technologies joined the list for the first time, in 10th place.