Amit Sinha, global head of telecommunications, media and technology (TMT) at DBS Group. (Photo by reporter Wu Xintian)
Taiwan has become an important player in global AI infrastructure investment by leveraging its advantages in semiconductor manufacturing and AI server supply chain. As demand in the U.S. market continues to increase, Taiwanese companies are accelerating the deployment of overseas production capacity, driving demand for capital expenditures, supply chain finance, and cross-border financing. Semiconductor industry cooperation between Taiwan and India has gradually become a new focus in Asia's supply chain development.
Amit Sinha, global head of telecommunications, media and technology (TMT) at DBS Group, pointed out that Taiwan plays an important role in the global AI industry chain, especially in semiconductor manufacturing and AI server supply chain. Related companies are facing challenges of overseas expansion and rising working capital needs.
Amit pointed out that Taiwan has a relatively complete semiconductor industry ecosystem and occupies an important position in the global supply chain. As the demand for AI computing increases, related investments are no longer limited to chips, but also include infrastructure such as GPUs, servers, and data centers.
In the field of AI servers, Taiwanese companies such as Hon Hai, Quanta, and Wistron are adjusting their manufacturing layout in response to the needs of large global technology companies. As large customers such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle have increased demand for AI servers, and some products need to be produced and delivered in the United States, Taiwan's supply chain players have also continued to expand overseas production capabilities. This has further extended the capital needs of Taiwanese companies from traditional equipment investment to overseas factory establishment, production capacity expansion and cross-border working capital management.
Amit said that the financing needs of Taiwan's semiconductor and AI server companies are different from some markets in Asia that focus on data center construction.
From the perspective of the overall development of the Asian market, DBS Bank believes that there are obvious differences in the financing needs of different industrial sectors.
Amit explained that the capital needs of Taiwan's semiconductor and AI server companies are mainly focused on manufacturing equipment, overseas expansion and supply chain turnover; other Asian markets have a lot of capital invested in the infrastructure construction of data centers and new cloud service providers (Neo-cloud).
Data center projects usually need to consider factors such as land, electricity, construction costs, long-term customer contracts, and asset valuations. In contrast, in addition to investment in capacity expansion, the AI server supply chain must also deal with short-term funding needs caused by large orders.
DBS Bank is optimistic about the potential for cooperation between Taiwan and India in the semiconductor and AI supply chains. Amit pointed out that many Taiwanese companies have important business bases in Singapore and intend to further expand the Indian market; on the other hand, India is actively establishing a semiconductor industry ecosystem and hopes to introduce more partners with manufacturing experience and supply chain capabilities.
DBS Bank is the largest foreign bank in Taiwan and India. With its business network in Taiwan, India and Singapore, DBS Bank has assisted Indian business delegations in visiting different industry players in Taiwan to promote more direct industry exchanges.
For Taiwanese companies, the Indian market provides opportunities to further expand overseas business and supply chain cooperation; for India, Taiwan's accumulated manufacturing capabilities and industrial experience will help it gradually establish a more complete semiconductor and AI server industry chain.
