The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET) and the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP) co-hosted the “The China Challenge: The View from Taiwan” seminar on May 6, 2026, as a featured event of this year’s AI+EXPO. The session titled “Advanced Packaging and China’s Race for AI Compute Parity” explored how China is utilizing backend technological pathways to circumvent front-end process constraints, drawing a significant audience of Washington policymakers and industry experts.
Strategic Insight: Advanced Packaging as a Parallel Track for AI Compute
The session was moderated by Min-yen Chiang, DSET Deputy Director for Economic Security, and featured a briefing by Policy Analyst I-Yin Chung. Chung noted that, faced with tightening front-end process restrictions, China is aggressively positioning advanced packaging and system integration as a strategic parallel track for its AI compute development. She analyzed how China utilizes its state apparatus to accelerate existing advantages in Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) and Printed Circuit Board (PCB) manufacturing, actively cultivating “national champions” within the backend ecosystem.
Citing Huawei’s Ascend products as evidence, Chung highlighted how multi-chiplet stacking architectures are being deployed to achieve “good enough” system performance despite technical bottlenecks, thereby raising the floor of China’s deployment compute capabilities. Regarding policy responses, she advocated for a regulatory framework that incorporates key advanced packaging materials and equipment based on specific specifications and thresholds. She argued that regulatory logic must shift from the traditional “node-centric” approach to “post-packaging metrics,” calling for closer coordination between the United States and its allies to ensure alignment on technical standards and regulatory actions.
The Talent Crisis: A Crosscutting Challenge for Democratic Allies
Patrick Wilson, Founding Principal of Semiconductor & Innovation Group LLC, provided a profound assessment of the industrial challenges facing the U.S. and its allies. Wilson emphasized that a core challenge for democratic allies in the technological race is the lack of an aggressive, systematic expansion of the talent pipeline.
He pointed out a deficiency in acceleration mechanisms for graduate research programs across critical fields—including electrical engineering, materials science, and physics—and noted that immigration policy reforms remain stagnant. Wilson argued that Allied nations must pursue more active transnational collaboration in talent recruitment and academic innovation to maintain their advantage in the long-term struggle for technological leadership.
