The semiconductor industry is an important driver of Taiwan's economic growth. In order to ensure that Taiwan maintains its leading position in the global semiconductor industry, the government is actively training talent and robustly supporting research and development in semiconductor technology. To respond to international trends in semiconductor technology development, NARLabs' Taiwan Semiconductor Research Institute (TSRI) under the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) has signed a contract with Synopsys to provide the company's Sentaurus TCAD and Quantum ATK simulation tools to Taiwan's academic community at no cost. This will enable Taiwan's researchers to make use of a semiconductor process R&D environment that is in sync with the industry to accelerate the development of key next-generation semiconductor process technology, as well as train top quality talent.

In order to maintain a leading position in the semiconductor industry, R&D and swift progression in next-generation semiconductor manufacturing is imperative, and the joint efforts of industry, government, academia, and research institutions are required for Taiwan to stay ahead in terms of the development of next-generation semiconductor process technologies such as a nanometer-scale or even Ångstrom-class (Å, 1/10th of a nanometer) process shrink. Because of this, TSRI is collaborating with Synopsys to bring in the Sentaurus TCAD and Quantum ATK simulation tools to create a next-generation semiconductor process R&D environment that can ramp up the development of semiconductor components and process technologies.

TSRI Director General Wen-Kuan Yeh indicated that applications of electronic products are getting increasingly broader, and semiconductor process technology is becoming more and more complicated; therefore, in order to reduce the cost of R&D, TCAD's process simulation tools have become very popular. Through collaboration with Synopsys, NARLabs will assist Taiwan's academic community in rapidly upgrading its semiconductor material and component design R&D capabilities through accurate modeling and advanced simulation software, making an even greater investment in academic research and innovation to stay in the lead in the global market. Robert Li, President of Synopsys Taiwan, stated that Synopsys has a long history of partnership with TSRI, and hopes to increase practical experience in advanced process design tools in Taiwan's academic community, train high-level talent in semiconductor manufacturing and design, and build up Taiwan's semiconductor R&D capabilities.