Never forget the original intention of entrepreneurship, Hsieh Yong-fen: MA-tek will always be the customer's The Best R&D Partner.
Failure analysis (FA) and material analysis (MA), which ensure product quality, performance, and reliability, have always played an important role in the semiconductor industry. In recent years, the semiconductor manufacturing industry has accelerated its globalization and expanded the range of product applications. As a major player in Taiwan's semiconductor analysis field, MA-tek has adhered to the entrepreneurial spirit of "The Best R&D Partner" for many years, hoping to provide professional services nearby through the technical energy accumulated from years of investment in research and development. The Kumamoto laboratory, which will open in September, is a recent indicative action. Chairman Hsieh Yong-Fen pointed out that the Kumamoto laboratory will work alongside the Nagoya laboratory previously established by the company, assisting customers in optimizing production capacity and product quality.
Overseas layout provides nearby services, deepening automotive research and development to seize diverse business opportunities.
Another laboratory in Kumamoto will focus on wafer fabrication analysis services. Xie Yongfen pointed out that major semiconductor manufacturers in Taiwan have already established factories in Kumamoto, and mass production will begin in the next two years. MA-tek is setting up laboratories in line with customer developments. In terms of service content, she noted that the early stage of market development mainly focuses on material analysis. As technology matures and applications expand, demands for failure analysis, reliability analysis (RA), electrical failure analysis (EFA), surface analysis (SA), and chemical and physical property analysis (CA) will gradually emerge. MA-tek has strong technical capabilities in these areas to meet customers' diverse analytical needs. Among them, Japan is a new market with a rapid expansion rate, experiencing nearly 50% growth each year. She is optimistic about the local potential and estimates that this explosive growth will be maintained in the short term.
Another growth momentum for MA-tek's performance comes from the automotive industry. As mentioned earlier, MA-tek's services in the automotive field include various analysis and testing for automotive ICs and batteries. Under the trend of intelligence, the automotive electronics market is booming, bringing huge business opportunities to the semiconductor industry. However, Xie Yongfen mentioned that entering this field has its difficulties, as automotive systems involve personal safety, and system failures can lead to global recalls or high compensation costs, so car manufacturers pay special attention to high reliability requirements. Automotive products must pass various standards such as ISO 26262, IATF 16949, and AEC-Q100. MA-tek's analysis and verification can provide reliability analysis and design recommendations for the overall system, and its expertise is highly recognized by customers, which is the main reason for the accelerated growth in this field. Battery analysis is a new business brought about by the trend of electric vehicles. The battery is the power source for electric vehicles, and its quality is crucial to the overall vehicle performance. Battery analysis falls under material analysis and requires highly specialized technical experience and stringent analytical environments. For example, lithium battery analysis must be conducted in low-temperature nitrogen equipment to avoid material oxidation, and MA-tek has therefore equipped nitrogen boxes and low-temperature FIB (Focused Ion Beam) microscopes. Xie Yongfen stated that MA-tek's Nagoya laboratory is the only local vendor that can support battery analysis services. As the electric vehicle market heats up, the demand for this analysis service has also grown, reflecting in MA-tek's performance.
MA-tek's three major advantages create strong competitiveness for customers.
From the battery analysis at the Nagoya laboratory and the market layout in China and Japan, MA-tek's three unique advantages in analytical services can be seen. First is the open-minded approach; when Xie Yongfen founded the company, she decided not to focus solely on one product but to extend services to various fields within reach. Although semiconductor analysis is still the main source of revenue, MA-tek has professional analytical capabilities in the optoelectronic fields such as flat panel displays and LEDs, and these areas have also accounted for a certain proportion of revenue. Even in semiconductor manufacturing, MA-tek began to layout in the early stages of market development, with automotive electronics as an example. As mentioned earlier, the automotive industry requires long-term verification before having the opportunity to enter the supply chain, so MA-tek invested in research and development early on to accumulate technical capabilities.
An open mindset is also reflected in the collaboration with customers. Due to the wide application of material analysis and failure analysis, it is impossible for an analysis laboratory to possess expertise in all single fields. Therefore, when taking on new field customers, MA-tek maintains an open attitude and develops solutions together with customers. Xie Yongfen stated that while the business operation mechanism of analysis services is that customers pose questions and laboratories solve them, customers also provide professional opinions in the field when presenting their needs and collaborate with analysis service providers to develop solutions, combining both parties' strengths to find a resolution. MA-tek's battery analysis service expertise is built on this model. She emphasized that the premise of this collaboration model is that suppliers must have an open mindset to overcome various challenges in the R&D process and successfully complete tasks.
The diversified layout derived from an open mindset has allowed MA-tek's performance to maintain stable growth over the long term. Xie Yongfen stated that the industrial environment and economic cycles in global markets vary, and a diversified layout can effectively disperse risks. For example, during the semiconductor shortage caused by the pandemic, analysis services for optoelectronics and batteries timely filled the gap, allowing MA-tek to achieve growth against the trend, unaffected by a single industry.
MA-tek's second advantage is its proactive layout, which allows it to gain insights into market trends and invest in research and development ahead of time, enabling the provision of suitable solutions as customer demands emerge. In basketball, there is a term called Leading Pass, which means to anticipate a teammate's movement and pass the ball to the position in advance, creating the best shooting opportunity of "the ball arrives as the player does." However, to layout proactively and accurately, a strong professional foundation and trend insight are essential. Since materials and process technologies are sensitive data, the information that MA-tek can grasp is extremely limited, relying only on past professional speculation and sample preparation; therefore, the risk of proactive layout is closely related to the level of expertise.
MA-tek has long-term collaborations with clients in various fields. Team members have a deep understanding of clients' needs in research and development, process monitoring, quality control, and other aspects. They analyze industry trends to assess clients' development pace and potential challenges, investing early in research and development to accumulate relevant technological capabilities. When demand truly arises, they can provide sufficient and complete information to assist clients in quickly solving problems. This leading industry trend, predicting demand and meeting current needs, gives MA-tek a unique competitive advantage and establishes a closer cooperative model with clients.
The third advantage is excellent multinational operational capability. Xie Yongfen pointed out that in addition to in-depth and comprehensive professional analysis, another key requirement from clients in this field is speed, as they hope to receive analysis reports as soon as possible to facilitate subsequent process improvement operations. This is also the reason why analysis service providers must closely follow their clients and provide services nearby. The MA-tek team has rich international networking resources, allowing them to quickly obtain local support to establish service points when expanding overseas, a capability that is relatively rare in the analysis service field.
Winning the Best Female CEO award again affirms the achievements of Xie Yongfen and MA-tek.
With advantages such as deep professional technical capabilities, open-mindedness, and strong multinational abilities, MA-tek has delivered impressive results after more than 20 years of establishment. Xie Yongfen has also been re-elected as the "Best Female CEO" by Harvard Business Review in 2023, becoming one of the "Top 10 Best OTC Female CEOs in Taiwan for 2023." This award is based on objective indicators such as total market value growth, cumulative total shareholder return (TSR), and average earnings per share (EPS). This year, it also includes the ESG performance of companies to meet the global high standards for excellent enterprises towards sustainability. Although this is an individual award for Xie Yongfen, the selection criteria also reflect the recognition of the MA-tek team.
Regarding receiving the "Best Female CEO" award again, Xie Yongfen expressed her deep gratitude. She also suggested that in the future, gender should not be a distinguishing factor, allowing male and female entrepreneurs to be evaluated under the same standards. Additionally, she shared her views on the future development of the analysis service industry. Firstly, communication and exchange between the government, industry, and academia could be closer. Xie Yongfen pointed out that the technology industry chain is complex, and its diverse characteristics have led to a lack of a complete definition of the technology industry. She recalled that MA-tek once hoped to obtain a high-tech approval letter to facilitate the application for listing, but due to a lack of clear regulations, they could only list in a general industry manner. For many years, Taiwan has hoped to cultivate industry leaders and innovative unicorns. To achieve this goal, a more open mindset and an attitude that accepts new industry models are necessary to make the vision a reality.
In addition, she encourages Taiwanese companies to embrace innovative thinking and boldly challenge the most difficult tasks. When MA-tek was founded, most people believed that investing a large amount of money in purchasing expensive instruments and starting with the most difficult materials would have a very limited chance of success. However, Xie Yongfen insisted on this path, believing that although material analysis is difficult, once the challenge is completed, it can promote the development of the analysis service industry. Moreover, the foundation accumulated during the process of solving the biggest challenges has also given MA-tek strong technical capabilities, allowing it to quickly overcome other lower-difficulty analysis challenges.
Regarding future planning, Xie Yongfen pointed out that deepening R&D capabilities and providing professional and comprehensive services are the unchanging operational principles of MA-tek. In addition to corporate layout, strengthening analytical performance through new technologies is another focus. In recent years, AI has become a global industry trend, and this technology will also change the analytical service industry. Currently, MA-tek has actively integrated AI with equipment to optimize cumbersome operational processes, assisting engineers in easily handling large amounts of data and quickly providing customers with accurate analytical reports.
In the rapidly changing industrial environment and the global trend of intelligence, analytical services that can assist industries in ensuring product quality and improving process efficiency will become increasingly important. Taiwan's technical capabilities in this field are beyond doubt. She finally calls on the domestic industry, government, and academia to work together to create a diverse and healthy industrial ecosystem, assisting various enterprises in building different advantages and strengthening mutual cooperation. MA-tek will also continue to invest and contribute to the development of Taiwan's industry. For her, this is the true meaning of starting a business.
※ The above information is extracted from "DIGITIMES"
