Keeping tab on the semiconductor supply chain

From rising costs and demand for efficiency to geopolitical concerns like increasing tariffs and sanctions on certain countries, Global TechSolutions has a robust yet regional network with operations in Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan.

The semiconductor supply chain is one of the most challenging in the world. Given the number of components needed to develop semiconductors, the supply chain is often made up of hundreds if not thousands of different vendors and suppliers from almost every corner of the world.

The semiconductor industry continues to face a myriad of challenges that require constant strategizing of the supply chain. From natural disasters to geopolitical reasons, having sufficient access to vendors and suppliers ethically around the world is imperative for semiconductor companies.

One company that specializes in the semiconductor supply chain is Global TechSolutions (GTS). The Singaporean-headquartered semiconductor equipment solutions provider specializes in addressing the concerns semiconductor companies face today.

From rising costs and demand for efficiency to geopolitical concerns like increasing tariffs and sanctions on certain countries, GTS has a robust yet regional network with operations in Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan.

According to Kenneth Lee Wee Ching, CEO of GTS, the equipment solutions provider has nearly 20 years of industry expertise providing its wide network of local, regional, and international clients and partners with one-stop solutions. Lee explained that GTS delivers rapid sourcing, cost-effectiveness, and operational resilience with the right strategy to seize market opportunities.

“The semiconductor supply chain is one of the biggest issues in the industry. Why do I say that? It is because in the semiconductor industry, it takes a very long time to be qualified (as a supplier or distributor). Semiconductor companies will look at your entire supply chain before you are qualified. This even goes down to the nuts and bolts that are used. Are they ethnically sourced? Are they from a competing country?” said Lee.

As such, Lee explained that the supply chain remains a crucial issue for companies in the industry. To deal with it, companies first need to have a stable source. Secondly, the source needs to be a source that customers can conquer and finally, there needs to be a high level of engineering capability so that they can work together. These are some of the biggest issues GTS is currently addressing in the industry.

A full suite solution

Lee explained that GTS deals with the front-end of the semiconductor sector. Specifically, on the wafer packaging side, GTS provides a full suite solution. This means GTS does not only provide equipment parts and services but also provides secondary equipment whereby they build their own equipment as well as provide upgrades to equipment.

Apart from that, Lee added that GTS also provides part updates, repairs and refurbishment services. The GTS team will be present to install and troubleshoot any issues with the semiconductor equipment as well.

“We are one of the rare few organizations that does the whole full suite by providing different options within different segments in the semiconductor industry. It allows us to provide a very optimized cost solution a very customized solution for the customer,” said Lee.

In terms of customers, Lee highlighted that they are currently working with major semiconductor companies in Taiwan, China, Singapore, Malaysia and the US.

With increasing use of AI, Lee also mentioned that this has resulted in an increase for customized services in the semiconductor industry. He explained that for the semiconductor industry to use AI technology in production, there are many changes that need to be made to the current production capability of any company.

“They need to modify their equipment and make tweaks to the parts they use. They also need to optimize certain production lines and make sure the yield is good enough. And because we provide customized solutions, we are able to provide a quick and fast engineering solution that they require, which in turn also represents a lot of profit for us. Because the bigger companies, especially the American companies, they usually have a very long approval round as they will look at ROI and such. However, we are quick in that sense, because we will basically be able to motivate the customer to deliver the small changes quickly,” explained Lee.

Making an impact in the industry

Having been in the industry since 2008, Lee also shared that GTS is looking towards regional growth into markets like India as well as expand its capabilities in the semiconductor industry.

“We're going to expand by covering even more different types of machinery and even more different types of processors. We want to give customers even more inclusive coverage in terms of the support that they need. We are also looking aggressively at regional expansion, mainly in the market that we're in, like Taiwan, US and Malaysia. We are planning on internalizing the control system to make sure that everything is streamlined in terms of the processes that we deal with. This enables us for a quick expansion into countries that we want to go to. India is another country that we are looking at aggressively as well,” explained Lee.

Lee added that GTS works with the ESG in Singapore and Enterprise Singapore to have that governmental reach overseas. Apart from that, there is a lot of local government support that’s instrumental in terms of development, especially in having access to the right workforce as well as land.

“Finding the right location that is supported by the government infrastructure is very important to us. Because for the semiconductor sector, we need very stable water, power, gas and things like that. So that's very important,” added Lee.

In terms of the technology itself, Lee mentioned that upcoming emerging technology in advanced packaging is definitely something they will be looking into.

“As we reach sub-nanometer, the improvement at the front-end is going to be challenging. Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) is reaching its optical limits already and it's quite difficult. We are working on a lot of research in advanced packaging. However, with advanced packing developing strong in Malaysia as well, we will be looking at this. As advanced packaging is basically using front-end technology, we will be extending that to the back end,” said Lee.