Inside the High-Stakes World of the Company Keeping Taiwan’s Fabs Running

This podcast features Eric Lee, CEO and President of Scient Corporation and Taiwan Regional President of the International Semiconductor Industry Group. Lee's career began at UMC in 1995, where he worked for nearly a decade before joining Scient in 2004 after returning from Singapore to care for his wife during her cancer treatment. Scient started as a representative house in 1979 and has evolved into a comprehensive company that designs wet process tools, operates 300mm wafer reclaim lines, and distributes advanced packaging equipment. Currently, their representative business accounts for 53% of revenue, though they're aggressively expanding their own equipment manufacturing capabilities. Lee discusses the industry's transition into a 'post-silicon era' where traditional scaling faces exponential cost and technical challenges, leading to increased focus on advanced packaging technologies like CoWoS (Chip on Wafer on Substrate) and panel-level packaging. He addresses supply chain resilience strategies, including dual sourcing and geographic diversification across Korea, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the United States. The conversation covers sustainability metrics, with power efficiency offering the quickest ROI for equipment upgrades, and the ongoing challenges in achieving true self-optimization in predictive maintenance systems. Lee also shares his perspective on talent acquisition challenges, noting that top graduates typically pursue careers at TSMC or design houses rather than equipment companies, leading Scient to hire international talent and establish partnerships with universities like NTU's advanced packaging master program.