According to Deloitte, the semiconductor industry has rapidly grown with an approximately 19% growth rate in 2024 and sales of USD 627 billion in the same year. In 2025, the global semiconductor industry sales are expected to reach USD 697 billion and USD 1 trillion by 2030. The growing global demand for AI technologies and applications is believed to be the main driving factor for this trend, as the entire addressable market for AI accelerator chips the CEO of AMD, Dr. Lisa Su, expects the value of this specific market to reach USD 500 billion in 2028.

In support of this trend, the IC Taiwan Grand Challenge (ICTGC) was established as an initiative by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) to bolster Taiwan's IC startup ecosystem and attract global tech talent and investment. As part of the Taiwan Chip-based Industrial Innovation Program (Taiwan CBI), which is a collaborative effort by Taiwanese government ministries to leverage Taiwan's semiconductor expertise by integrating chips with critical innovations, the IC Taiwan Grand Challenge competition seeks out talented global tech startups to join the dynamic and competitive semiconductor industry.

The 2nd batch winners of ICTGC were announced on April 16, 2025, and included startups representing France, Singapore, Sweden, and the UK. The winners leveraged their innovative solutions in sustainability, smart data & AI, smart medtech, and smart manufacturing. The winners of the 2nd batch are:

• WISE-INTEGRATION
  Origin: France
  Category: Sustainability
  WISE-INTEGRATION is a fabless semiconductor company based in France and Asia to build more compact and efficient AC-DC power supplies from 65W up to 7kW by providing them with 2 essential chips:
  
  
  
  1. WiseGan - a GaN Power IC implementing switch, driver, and protection features.
     
  2. WiseWare - a digital AC-DC controller with proprietary high-speed firmware inside, unlocking WiseGaN's full potential.
  
  
  
• JMEM TEK HOLDING
  Origin: Singapore
  Category: Smart Data & AI
  Jmem Tek is a Semiconductor Device, IP and Chip Design company that provides a total hardware security solution that utilizes uncrackable IP and technology to combat illegal hacking at the post-quantum level.
  
  
• NSS Water
  Origin: Sweden
  Category: Sustainability
  NSS Water specializes in pioneering water technology, delivering nanopure water solutions for high-tech industries and beyond. With their patented WET technology, they redefine water purity standards, enabling advancements in semiconductor manufacturing.
  
  
• TurboNext.ai
  Origin: Singapore
  Category: Smart Data & AI
  TurboNext.ai scales LLM infrastructure with heterogeneous compute and cost-efficient memory. Its software enables efficient execution across diverse GPUs, while its silicon features an LLM accelerator and terabytes of local memory for faster AI processing.
  
  
• Genenet Technology
  Origin: UK
  Category: Smart Medtech
  Genenet Technology revolutionizes the field of preclinical drug discovery. They can harness their unique AI and quantum capacity to redefine OOC technology and establish the foundation for a one-step, multi-organoid-on-chip system to support clients from the organoid formation to drug screening.

Registration for the next batch of the IC Taiwan Grand Challenge started on March 26 and will end on June 30. Startups planning to collaborate with Taiwan's semiconductor industry can register now.
Sign up here:
>>>https://ictaiwanchallenge.org/