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== Production capabilities ==
== Production capabilities ==
{{Update section|date=December 2018}}
{{Update section|reason=Current 16nm FF production capabilites should be explained further and upcoming 7nm products should be mentioned|date=December 2018}}
On 12-inch wafers TSMC is realizing the following devices:
On 12-inch wafers TSMC is realizing the following devices:
* 0.13 μm (options: general-purpose (G), low-power (LP), high-performance low-voltage (LV)),
* 0.13 μm (options: general-purpose (G), low-power (LP), high-performance low-voltage (LV)),

Revision as of 02:22, 6 December 2018

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC)
Native name
台灣積體電路製造股份有限公司
Company typePublic
IndustrySemiconductors
FoundedIndustrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu, Taiwan
(1987; 37 years ago (1987))
FounderMorris Chang
Headquarters
Hsinchu Science and Industrial Park
,
Taiwan
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Mark Liu (Chairman)
  • C.C. Wei (CEO and Vice Chairman)
Production output
  • Increase15.67 million 8-inch equivalent wafers (2013)
  • 14.04 million 8-inch equivalent wafers (2012)
BrandsCyberShuttle prototyping service, Open Innovation Platform, eFoundry online services
ServicesManufacture of Integrated circuits and related services
Revenue
  • IncreaseNT$377.958 billion (US$11.665 billion) (2016)
  • IncreaseNT$331.797 billion (US$10.241 billion) (2016)
Total assets
  • IncreaseNT$1,886.297 billion (US$58.219 billion) (2016)
Total equity
  • IncreaseNT$1,359.051 billion (US$41.946 billion) (2016)
Number of employees
46,968 (2016)
Subsidiaries
  • WaferTech
  • TSMC PRC
  • SSMC
Websitewww.tsmc.com
Footnotes / references
[1]

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited (TSMC; Chinese: 台灣積體電路製造公司; pinyin: Táiwān Jī Tǐ Diànlù Zhìzào Gōngsī), also known as Taiwan Semiconductor, is the world's largest dedicated independent (pure-play) semiconductor foundry,[citation needed] with its headquarters and main operations located in the Hsinchu Science and Industrial Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

Overview

Founded in Taiwan in 1987 by Morris Chang, TSMC was the world's first dedicated semiconductor foundry and has long been the leading company in its field.[2][3] In addition to semiconductors, the company has also begun investing in lighting and solar energy-related industries.[2] It is listed on both the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. Mark Liu serves as Chairman and C. C. Wei serves as CEO and Vice Chairman.[4]

Most of the leading fabless semiconductor companies such as Qualcomm, Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), MediaTek, Marvell and Broadcom Inc. are customers of TSMC, as well as emerging players such as Spectra7, Spreadtrum, AppliedMicro, Allwinner Technology and HiSilicon,[5] and many smaller companies. Leading programmable logic device companies Xilinx and previously Altera also make or made use of TSMC's foundry services.[6] Some integrated device manufacturers that have their own fabrication facilities like Intel, STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments outsource some of their production to TSMC.[7][8] At least one semiconductor company, LSI, re-sells TSMC wafers through its ASIC design services and design IP-portfolio.

The company has been increasing and upgrading its manufacturing capacity for most of its existence, although influenced by the demand cycles of the semiconductor industry. In 2011, the company planned to increase research and development expenditures by almost 39% to NT$50 billion in an effort to fend off growing competition.[9] The company also planned to expand capacity by 30% in 2011 to meet strong market demand.[10] In May 2014, TSMC's board of directors approved capital appropriations of US$568 million to establish, convert, and upgrade advanced technology capacity[11] after the company forecast higher than expected demand.[12] In August 2014, TSMC's board of directors approved additional capital appropriations of US$3.05 billion.[13]

In 2011, it was reported that TSMC had begun trial production of the A5 SoC and A6 SoCs for Apple's iPad and iPhone devices.[14][15] According to reports,[16] as of May 2014, Apple is sourcing its new A8 and A8X SoCs from TSMC[17][18] and later sourced the A9 SoC with both TSMC and Samsung (to increase volume for iPhone 6s launch) with the A9X being exclusively made by TSMC, thus resolving the issue of sourcing a chip in two different microarchitecture sizes. Apple has become TSMC's most important customer.[18][19]

TSMC's market capitalization reached a value of NT$1.9 trillion (US$63.4 billion) in December 2010.[20] It was ranked 70th in the FT Global 500 2013 list of the world's most highly valued companies with a capitalization of US$86.7 billion,[21] while reaching US$110 billion in May 2014.[22] In March 2017, TSMC's market capitalisation surpassed that of semiconductor giant Intel for the first time, hitting NT$5.14 trillion (US$168.4 billion), with Intel's at US$165.7 billion.[23]

Production capabilities

On 12-inch wafers TSMC is realizing the following devices:

  • 0.13 μm (options: general-purpose (G), low-power (LP), high-performance low-voltage (LV)),
  • 90 nm (based upon 80GC from Q4/2006),
  • 65 nm (options: general-purpose (GP), low-power (LP), ultra-low-power (ULP), LPG),
  • 55 nm (options: general-purpose (GP), low-power (LP)).

It also offers "design for manufacturing" (DFM) customer services.[24]

For the 40 nm process (still in production at end of 2016) TSMC reports:[25]

The 40 nm logic family includes
  • low-power (LP),
  • general-purpose superb (G),
  • low-power triple gate oxide (LPG)
process options.
All three processes offer multiple-threshold-voltage (Vt) core devices and 1.8 V, 2.5 V, 3.3 V I/O options to meet different product requirements.

Although TSMC offers a variety of wafer product lines (including high-voltage, mixed-signal, analog and MEMS[26]), it is best known for its logic chip product line with particular strength in advanced low-power processes such as 28 nm HPM with HKMG technology for mobile and high-performance applications.[27][28] A press release from 2015[29] lists these seven variants:

Today TSMC has five versions of 28 nm:
HP (high-performance),
HPM (high-performance mobile),
HPC (high-performance computing),
HPL (high-performance low-power),
LP (low-power).
Two additional processes were added:
HPC+, which is an even faster version of HP,
ULP, which is ultra-low-power for IoT and other battery-powered applications.

In press publications these processes will often be referenced, for example, for the mobile variant, simply by 28nmHPM or even more briefly by 28HPM.

TSMC is at the end of 2016 further advertising 20 nm (HKMG, SiGe) and 16 nm (FinFet plus) production technologies.[30]

Facilities

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, which uses a 16 nm Pascal chip manufactured by TSMC

Apart from its main base of operations in Hsinchu in Northern Taiwan, where several of its fab facilities are located, it also has leading-edge fabs in Southern Taiwan and Central Taiwan, with other fabs located at its subsidiaries TSMC China in Shanghai, China, WaferTech in Washington State, USA, and SSMC in Singapore,[31] and it has offices in China, Europe, India, Japan, North America, and South Korea.[32]

The following fabs are in operation as of 2018:[31]

  • Three 300 mm (12 inch) "GIGAFABs" in operation in Taiwan: Fab 12 (Hsinchu), 14 (Tainan), 15 (Taichung)
  • Four 200 mm (8 inch) wafer fabs in full operation in Taiwan (Fabs 3, 5, 6, 8)
  • TSMC China Company Limited (Shanghai), 200 mm (8 inch) (Fab 10)
  • TSMC Nanjing Company Limited, 300 mm (12 inch) (Fab 16)
  • WaferTech L.L.C., TSMC's wholly owned subsidiary, a 200 mm (8 inch) fab in Camas, Washington, United States (Fab 11)
  • SSMC (Systems on Silicon Manufacturing Co.), a joint venture with NXP Semiconductors in Singapore, 200 mm (8 inch), where production started at the end of 2002
  • One 150 mm (6 inch) wafer fab in full operation in Taiwan (Fab 2)

Fab under construction as of 2018:

  • Fab 18, 300 mm (12 inch) (Tainan)

TSMC has 4 Backend Fabs under operation: Fab 1 (Hsinchu), 2 (Tainan), 3 (Taoyuan City), and 5 (Taichung)

The investment of US$9.4 billion to build its third 12-inch (300 mm) wafer fabrication facility in Central Taiwan Science Park (Fab 15) was originally announced in 2010.[33] The facility was expected to output over 100,000 wafers a month and generate $5 billion per year of revenue.[34] TSMC has continued to expand advanced 28 nm manufacturing capacity at Fab 15.[35]

On 12 January 2011, TSMC announced the acquisition of land from Powerchip Semiconductor for NT$2.9 billion (US$96 million) to build two additional 300 mm fabs to cope with increasing global demand,[36] which would result in Fab 12B.

WaferTech subsidiary

WaferTech, a subsidiary of TSMC, is a pure-play semiconductor foundry located in Camas, Washington, USA. It is the largest pure-play foundry in the United States. The facility employs 1100 workers.[citation needed]

WaferTech was established in June 1996 as a joint venture with TSMC, Altera, Analog Devices, and ISSI as key partners. The four companies along with minor individual investors invested US$1.2 billion into this venture, which was at the time the single largest startup investment in the state of Washington. The company started production in July 1998 in its 200 mm (8 inch) semiconductor fabrication plant. Its first product was a 0.35 micrometer part for Altera.[citation needed]

TSMC bought out the joint venture partners in 2000 and acquired full control, and currently operates it as a fully owned subsidiary.[37]

WaferTech is based in Camas, 20 miles (30 km) outside of Portland, Oregon. The WaferTech campus contains a 1 million square foot (90,000 m²) complex housed on 260 acres (1 km²). The main fabrication facility consists of a 130,000 square feet (12,000 m²) 200 mm (8 inch) wafer fabrication plant.[citation needed]

Yearly revenues in million NT$[38]
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
43,927 50,422 73,067 166,189 125,881 162,301 202,997 257,213 266,565 317,407
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
322,631 333,158 295,742 419,538 427,081 506,754 597,024 762,806 843,497 947,938
2017
977,477
Quarterly revenues in million NT$ [39]
Year Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
2012 105,615 128,186 141,499 131,445
2013 132,755 155,886 162,577 145,806
2014 148,215 183,020 209,050 222,520
2015 222,034 205,440 212,505 203,518
2016 203,495 221,810 260,406 262,227
2017 233,914 213,855 252,107 277,570
2018 248,079 233,276 260,348

TSMC's sales have increased from NT$44 billion (US$1.5 billion) in 1997 to NT$763 billion (approximately US$25 billion) in 2014, while net income was NT$264 billion (US$9 billion) in 2014 with a gross profit margin of 50%.[40]

TSMC and the rest of the foundry industry are exposed to the highly cyclical nature of the semiconductor industry. During upturns, TSMC must ensure that it has enough production capacity to meet strong customer demand. However, during downturns, it must contend with excess capacity because of weaker demand, and the high fixed costs associated with its manufacturing facilities.[41] As a result, the company's financial results tend to fluctuate with a cycle time of a few years. This is more apparent in earnings than revenues because of the general trend of revenue and capacity growth. TSMC's business has generally also been seasonal with a peak in Q3 and a low in Q1.

In 2014, TSMC was at the forefront of the foundry industry for high-performance, low-power applications,[27][28] leading major smartphone chip companies such as Qualcomm,[42][43] Mediatek[43][44] and Apple[17][19] to place an increasing amount of orders.[27] While the competitors in the foundry industry (primarily GlobalFoundries and United Microelectronics Corporation) have encountered difficulties ramping leading-edge 28 nm capacity,[44] the leading Integrated Device Manufacturers such as Samsung and Intel that seek to offer foundry capacity to third parties were also unable to match the requirements for advanced mobile applications.[28]

For most of 2014, TSMC saw a continuing increase in revenues due to increased demand, primarily due to chips for smartphone applications. TSMC raised its financial guidance in March 2014 and posted ‘unseasonably strong’ first-quarter results.[12][45] For Q2 2014, revenues came in at NT$183 billion, with 28 nanometer technology business growing more than 30% from the previous quarter.[46] Lead times for chip orders at TSMC increased due to a tight capacity situation, putting fabless chip companies at risk of not meeting their sales expectations or shipment schedules,[47] and in August 2014 it was reported that TSMC's production capacity for the fourth quarter of 2014 was already almost fully booked, a scenario that had not occurred for many years, which was described as being due to a ripple-effect due to TSMC landing CPU orders from Apple.[48]

However, monthly sales for 2014 peaked in October, decreasing by 10% in November due to cautious inventory adjustment actions taken by some of its customers.[49] TSMC's revenue for 2014 saw growth of 28% over the previous year, while TSMC has forecast that revenue for 2015 will grow by 15 to 20 percent from 2014, thanks to strong demand for its 20 nm process, new 16 nm FinFET process technology as well as continuing demand for 28 nm, and demand for less advanced chip fabrication in its 8-inch fabs.[49]

In October 2014, ARM and TSMC announced a new multi-year agreement for the development of ARM based 10 nm FinFET processors.[50]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited". TSMC. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Company Profile". TSMC. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
  3. ^ "D&R Foundry Corner". Design & Reuse. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  4. ^ "Corporate Executives". TSMC. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  5. ^ Abrams, Randy (25 November 2013), Asia Semiconductor Sector (Sector Review), Asia Pacific Equity Research, Credit Suisse, pp. 1, 3
  6. ^ "Morris Chang on Altera and Intel". SemiWiki. 25 April 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  7. ^ "Intel Outsourcing Some Atom Manufacturing to TSMC". The Oregonian. 2 March 2009.
  8. ^ "STMicroelectronics envisage la création de deux usines de puces avec l'aide des Etats français et italien". Ousine Nouvelle. 9 October 2017.
  9. ^ Lisa Wang (21 December 2010). "TSMC plans to increase research spending". Taipei Times. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
  10. ^ "TSMC to expand capacity by 30% in 2011". China Knowledge. 8 December 2010. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
  11. ^ "TSMC Board of Directors Meeting Resolutions". TSMC. 13 May 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  12. ^ a b "TSMC forecasts 22 percent Q2 growth". Taipei Times. 18 April 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  13. ^ "TSMC Board of Directors Meeting Resolutions". TSMC. 12 August 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  14. ^ "TSMC Kicks Off A6 Processor Trial Production with Apple". Chinese Economic News Service. 12 August 2011. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ "TSMC Beginning Production Of Apple's New A6 Processor". Techcrunch. 12 August 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
  16. ^ "Apple begins receiving shipments of A-series processors from TSMC - report". AppleInsider. 10 July 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  17. ^ a b "TSMC to Snatch All of Apple's A8 chip Orders?". TechNews. 17 February 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  18. ^ a b "Apple driving move to 64-bit mobile processors, TSMC says". CNET. 17 April 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  19. ^ a b "Apple chips to be 20% of TSMC sales". Taipei Times. 15 April 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  20. ^ "Market capitalization of TSMC reaches a historic high: CEO". AsiaOne Business. 21 December 2010. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
  21. ^ "FT 500 2013". Financial Times. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  22. ^ "TSM". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  23. ^ Culpan, Tim (22 March 2017). "Chipzilla Got Toppled". Bloomberg Gadfly. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  24. ^ "Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited". Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  25. ^ "Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited". Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  26. ^ "TSMC Holds Top Honors as World's Largest Pure Play MEMS Foundry, with Blistering 200 Percent Growth". IHS Technology. 16 July 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  27. ^ a b c "Smartphones, 28nm Tech Drive TSMC 1Q Revenue". EE Times. 17 April 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  28. ^ a b c "Qualcomm pending to add SMIC to 28nm vendor list". SimmTester.com. 14 March 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  29. ^ "SemiWiki.com - TSMC Unleashes Aggressive 28nm Strategy!". Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  30. ^ "Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited". Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  31. ^ a b "Fab Locations". TSMC. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  32. ^ "Business Contacts". TSMC. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  33. ^ "UPDATE 1-TSMC says plans $9.4 bln Taiwan plant". Reuters. 16 July 2010. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
  34. ^ "Analyst Warns Of Semiconductor Monopoly". Information Week. 21 July 2010. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
  35. ^ "TSMC increases 28nm output". fudzilla. 7 December 2012. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  36. ^ "TSMC Acquires PSC Land for New Fab Construction". Taiwan Economic News. 13 January 2011. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2011. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  37. ^ "Company News; Chip maker is buying out three WaferTech partners". The New York Times. 15 December 2000. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  38. ^ "TSMC". DigiTimes Finance. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  39. ^ "TSMC Quarterly Results". TSMC.
  40. ^ "Financial Reports". TSMC. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  41. ^ "Mobile chips are driving strong demand for TSMC's manufacturing services". Morningstar. 9 May 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  42. ^ "Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Processor First to Use TSMC's 28HPM Advanced Process Technology". TSMC. 25 February 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  43. ^ a b "TSMC banking on 28nm shipments". Taipei Times. 6 June 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  44. ^ a b "MediaTek adding more 28nm chip orders at TSMC, UMC due to production defects at Globalfoundries". DigiTimes. 6 May 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  45. ^ "TSMC Updates 1Q'14 Guidance". Taipei Times. 1 March 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  46. ^ "TSMC Reports Second Quarter EPS of NT$2.30". TSMC. 16 July 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  47. ^ "TSMC extends 28nm production lead time to 16 weeks". DigiTimes. 9 May 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  48. ^ "TSMC 4Q14 production capacity almost fully booked". DigiTimes. 14 August 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  49. ^ a b "TSMC revenue shrinks as clients adjust inventories". Taipei Times. 11 December 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  50. ^ "ARM Partnered With TSMC For 10nm FinFET Processors". GSM Insider. Archived from the original on 13 October 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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