2025-2 Special Lecture “The Memory Industry and Talent Challenges in the Age of AI” — Special Lecture by Deputy Director Yi-Ting Wang

On March 20, 2026, the Department of Economics at National Dong Hwa University invited alumna Yi-Ting Wang, Deputy Director of the Sales Department at Phison Electronics, to give a talk entitled “How Should I Choose a Topic? Ask AI?!” She shared insights with students on developments in the global memory industry and the revolutionary changes brought about by artificial intelligence (AI). Drawing on her extensive experience at Phison Electronics since graduation, the speaker discussed the development of the electronics industry, introduced the role Phison plays within the industry, and provided an accessible analysis of how AI is being implemented and becoming increasingly widespread.

At the beginning of the lecture, Deputy Director Wang humorously explained how the title of the talk came about. She recalled struggling to come up with a title when a classmate suggested, “Why not ask AI?”—a remark that perfectly reflects how closely AI has become intertwined with our daily lives. She noted that AI has evolved from simply integrating data to providing precise answers, making it an indispensable tool in everyday life. She then analyzed the current state of the memory industry, emphasizing that “without memory, there is no AI,” as AI and memory are inseparably linked. Following the launch of the Blackwell platform, described as the most powerful AI chip platform ever, by NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) has risen sharply. This has resulted in global memory demand exceeding supply, with the current wave of shortages and price increases expected to continue through 2030.

Deputy Director Wang further introduced Phison Electronics' key position in the industry. As one of the world's leading IC design companies, Phison does not operate its own production lines but possesses strong research and development capabilities, with R&D accounting for a significant proportion of its workforce and organizational structure. Its products are widely used in consumer electronics, industrial applications, automobiles, and enterprise servers, and the company has even expanded into the aerospace sector by participating in a lunar data center project. The speaker also explained that today's major bottlenecks in AI computing include high hardware costs and information security concerns. Although ChatGPT emerged in 2022, AI initially had only an indirect relationship with NAND and SSDs. In response, Phison Electronics developed the innovative “aiDAPTIV+” solution in 2023, which uses high-speed SSDs as a buffer, enabling small and medium-sized enterprises to securely train their own large language models (LLMs) without spending enormous amounts of money on top-of-the-line graphics cards.

Finally, Deputy Director Yi-Ting Wang encouraged Economics students not to worry about being replaced in an era of widespread AI adoption. She explained that AI is more likely to replace repetitive, standardized tasks than professionals who possess adaptability, flexibility, and sound professional judgment. She emphasized that AI applications have already expanded deeply into healthcare, transportation, industry, and business management, and that everyone may have their own AI assistant in the future. She encouraged students to learn more about the interdisciplinary applications of the technology industry during their studies and to consider how they can use AI to enhance their own value.

Recorded and compiled by Tzu-Chun Tsai, 2026/3/22