On 17 September, the Center for Physical Sciences and Technology (FTMC) welcomed a delegation from the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER), Taiwan: Chih-Ming Hung, Deputy Director of the Third Research Division, Associate Research Fellow Tsung-Che Wei and Assistant Research Fellow Wen-Hsin Tsai of the Center for Economic Forecasting. CIER is a policy research institute advising the Taiwanese government and is currently preparing a study on Taiwan-Lithuania industrial cooperation in semiconductors, lasers, photonics and silicon photonics. The delegation was received by the Lithuanian Chips Competence Centre ChipsC²-LT together with the FTMC management and consortium partners from Vilnius University and VILNIUS TECH.
The meeting was opened by the Director of FTMC, who presented the centre as the largest state research institution in the Baltics, with 50 laboratories that in 2025 delivered 730 services to 372 companies and cooperate with partners in more than 20 countries. ChipsC²-LT manager Dr Saulius Tumėnas presented the Lithuanian semiconductor and photonics ecosystem, where a mature laser sector of more than 50 companies is now joined by an emerging semiconductor and electronics layer of over 75 companies, as well as the consortium’s capabilities in heterogeneous integration, laser-based chip packaging, photonic integrated circuits, and characterisation. Prof. Vaidotas Barzdėnas of VILNIUS TECH presented integrated circuit design competences and cooperation with Taiwanese foundries, and Prof. Pranciškus Vitta of Vilnius University gave an overview of VU’s experience with Taiwanese universities, including student exchange and joint studies.
CIER presented its view of the current state of bilateral cooperation. According to the institute, 30 joint research projects are underway under the 2024-2026 calls of the Research Council of Lithuania and Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council, 13 of them in lasers and photonics, and the Ultrafast Laser Technology Research and Innovation Center opened in Tainan in 2023 with an investment of EUR 1.5 million from each side. CIER sees Lithuania’s entry points into the silicon photonics and co-packaged optics (CPO) value chain in precision glass processing, fibre coupling and alignment, and optical testing and reliability. Dr Liang of Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) joined online to present a cooperation idea in low-power edge AI chip design.
The discussion covered forms of institutional cooperation, researcher exchange, access to foundry and packaging services, and possible joint pilot projects. ChipsC²-LT emphasised that Lithuania’s strength lies at the interface of laser technologies and semiconductors, and that the European network of chips competence centres and pilot lines gives Taiwanese partners access to the wider European ecosystem. The parties agreed to continue the dialogue and exchange materials, and the CIER study’s findings are expected in the coming months.