#44 TSMC: Humanoid Robots Will Look After the Elderly

About this episode

Wendell Huang discusses the future of AI chips in humanoid robots for elderly care and TSMC's expansion efforts amidst rising demand.

The next great wave of demand for artificial intelligence chips could come not from chatbots, but from humanoid robots caring for ageing populations. That is the prediction of Wendell Huang, chief financial officer of TSMC, the Taiwanese company that manufactures the world’s most advanced semiconductors. As countries grapple with rapidly ageing societies, Huang sees robot carers and autonomous vehicles as major commercial frontiers beyond the current boom in AI data centres. TSMC is already struggling to keep pace with demand. Huang says the company is expanding as fast as it can across Taiwan, the United States, Japan and Germany, but new fabrication plants take two to three years to build and a further year or two to reach full production. Despite concerns about overinvestment, he rejects the idea that AI is a bubble, describing it as a “multi-year structural megatrend” backed by the financial strength of the world’s biggest cloud and technology companies. The most advanced chips will continue to be ramped up in Taiwan, Huang says, because research and manufacturing teams need to work in close proximity. Recreating Taiwan’s semiconductor ecosystem in the US will take at least…

People in this episode

Host: BBC News

Guest: Wendell Huang

Topics covered

• artificial intelligence
• semiconductors
• humanoid robots
• elderly care
• technology trends
• manufacturing
• investment

Keywords

• AI chips
• humanoid robots
• elderly care
• semiconductor manufacturing
• TSMC
• investment trends
• Elon Musk

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: TSMC, BBC News

Places: Taiwan, United States, Japan, Germany

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