Nikkei reports talent shortages in Taiwan and wider Asia may become the primary
constraint on AI hardware expansion, potentially delaying capacity builds needed
to meet AI demand. Wayne Yang, general manager of Taiwan chip-materials maker IV
Technologies, says finding engineers and technicians to staff a new
central-Taiwan plant is harder than finding customers as clients, peers and
suppliers are all hiring aggressively. Planned expansions across storage chips,
PCBs, lasers and assembly/packaging services require hundreds to thousands of
workers. Smaller specialists face intense competition for staff from larger
players including Qnity (ex-DuPont), Japan's Fujibo and customers TSMC and UMC.
Because Taiwan and other Asian hubs sit at the center of the AI hardware supply
chain, the labor squeeze may affect global timelines, supply and sector
sentiment.
