TSMC this afternoon has disclosed that it’ll develop its manufacturing capability for mature and specialised nodes by about 50% by 2025. The plan contains constructing quite a few new fabs in Taiwan, Japan, and China. The transfer will additional intensify competitors between TSMC and such contract makers of chips as GlobalFoundries, UMC, and SMIC.
Once we speak about silicon lithography right here at AnandTech, we largely cowl modern nodes used produce superior CPUs, GPUs, and cellular SoCs, as these are gadgets that drive progress ahead. However there are a whole bunch of gadget varieties which can be made on mature or specialised course of applied sciences which can be used alongside these refined processors, or energy rising sensible gadgets which have a major influence on our each day lives and have gained significance within the latest years. The demand for numerous computing and sensible gadgets within the latest years has exploded by a lot that this has provoked a worldwide chip provide disaster, which in flip has impacted automotive, shopper electronics, PC, and quite a few adjoining industries.
Fashionable smartphones, sensible house home equipment, and PCs already use dozens of chips and sensors, and the quantity (and complexity) of those chips is barely growing. These components use extra superior specialty nodes, which is among the motive why firms like TSMC should develop their manufacturing capacities of in any other case “outdated” nodes to satisfy rising demand within the coming years.
However there may be one other market that’s about to blow up: sensible vehicles. Automobiles already use a whole bunch of chips, and semiconductor content material is rising for automobiles. There are estimates that a number of years down the highway the variety of chips per automotive might be about 1,500 models – and somebody should make them. Which is why TSMC rivals GlobalFoundries and SMIC have been growing investments in new capacities within the final couple of years.
TSMC, which has among the many largest CapEx budgets within the semiconductor industries (which is challenged solely by Samsung) has in recent times been comparatively quiet about their mature and specialty node manufacturing plans. However at their 2022 TSMC Expertise Symposium, the corporate outlined its plans formally.
The corporate is investing in 4 new services for mature and specialty nodes:
- Fab 23 Section 1 in Kumamoto, Japan. This semiconductor fabrication facility will make chips utilizing TSMC’s N12, N16, N22, and N28 nodes and can have a manufacturing capability of as much as 45,000 300-mm wafer begins per thirty days.
- Fab 14 Section 8 in Tainan, Taiwan.
- Fab 22 Section 2 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
- Fab 16 Section 1B in Nanjing, China. TSMC at present makes chips on its N28 in China, although the brand new section was as soon as rumored to be able to making chips utilizing extra superior nodes.
Growing mature/specialised capability by 50% over the following three years is a giant shift for the corporate, and one that can enhance TSMC’s aggressive positions in the marketplace. What is probably extra necessary is that the corporate’s specialty nodes are largely primarily based on its widespread nodes, which permits a minimum of some firms to re-use IP they as soon as developed for compute or RF for a brand new software.
“[Our] specialty expertise is kind of distinctive as it’s primarily based on widespread expertise platform [logic technology platform], so our distinctive technique is to permit our buyer to share or reuse lots of the [common] IP,” stated Kevin Zhang, senior vp of enterprise improvement at TSMC. “For instance, you could have RF functionality, you construct that RF on a standard logic platform, however later you discover ‘hey somebody want a so-called ULV function to help an IoT product software.’ You wish to construct that on a standard platform so you’ll be able to permit completely different product strains to have the ability to share IP throughout the board, this is essential for our prospects so we do wish to present a built-in platform to handle the market wants of buyer from product perspective.’
There are different benefits too. For instance, TSMC’s N6RF permits chip designers to mix high-performance logic with RF, which allows them to construct merchandise akin to modems and different, extra distinctive options. Many firms are already aware of TSMC’s N6 logic node, so now they’ve a chance so as to add RF connectivity to one thing that advantages from excessive efficiency. GlobalFoundries has an analogous strategy, however because the U.S.-based foundry doesn’t have something corresponding to TSMC’s N6, TSMC has an indeniable benefit right here.
With its widespread platform strategy for mature nodes in addition to specialised applied sciences, and 50% extra capability, TSMC will be capable to provide the world extra chips for sensible and linked gadgets within the coming years. Moreover, it’ll additionally profit TSMC by considerably growing the corporate’s revenues from mature and specialised nodes, in addition to growing strain on their rivals.
