Tech sector’s future hinges on cloud computing
January 2, 2012
Mobile devices with cloud computing capabilities will drive the technology industry in the future and will enhance business productivity, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) Chairman Morris Chang said Monday.
In an interview with the Economic Daily News, Chang said Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPad have drawn business from the PC market, leading to a slowdown of sales in the PC sector that had been driving the fast growth of the semiconductor industry over the past 30 years…
With the development of cloud computing, there will be mobile devices lighter than iPhone and iPad that will be able to access large amounts of Internet data anywhere and at anytime, he said.
This will provide more opportunities for the semiconductor industry in the next decade, he said.
The industry revolution brought about by personal computers was aimed at improving corporate productivity, while the revolution driven by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs focused on improving the quality of people’s lives and the convenience of social networking, he noted.
However, the technology industry will face bigger changes in the future as cloud computing gains popularity, allowing people to save and receive data via servers, he said.
Once the cloud computing technology matures, tablet PCs will replace personal computers as the tools for greater corporate productivity, he forecast.
TSMC is the world’s largest contract chip maker. It has a market value of nearly NT$2 trillion (US$66 billion), leading all other Taiwanese companies. TSMC’s customers include leading semiconductor component suppliers to smartphones and tablet PCs.
Chang has forecast that over the next 10 years TSMC will record a compound annual growth rate of 10 percent in net profit, with its shareholders’ average return on equity exceeding 20 percent.
TSMC is planning large investments in capital expenditure and research and development to cement its leadership in a changing industrial environment, he said.
He also forecast that the output value of the semiconductor industry will grow at an average rate of between 3 percent and 5 percent in the next decade, indicating profit growth of less than 3-5 percent.