As the "trump card" behind chip manufacturers, TSMC has obvious advantages in the field of foundry chips. Qualcomm , Huawei , Apple and other world-renowned technology companies all rely on TSMC's chip foundry technology. Huawei's self-developed Kirin chip , Qualcomm's self-developed Snapdragon chip, and Apple's self-developed A-series chips all require TSMC to complete the last step in chip manufacturing. Otherwise, the chips designed by major manufacturers can only be "on paper talk". Just look at Huawei now.
In addition to leading technology, TSMC also has advantages in chip manufacturing equipment. TSMC exclusively occupies more than 80 EUV lithography machines. Because of this, TSMC has entered the "golden age", and major manufacturers such as Apple and Qualcomm have become TSMC's major customers.
However, since the US revised its chip ban and TSMC lost its big customer, Huawei, the chip market has ushered in a major reshuffle, and TSMC has also encountered considerable trouble. Recently, TSMC has frequently revealed "negative" news, which has triggered speculation from foreign media that the "golden age" belonging to TSMC may have come to an end.
After entering 2022, the global semiconductor market experienced a collective decline, and TSMC was also cut. When performance declines, the "open source" path will not work, and TSMC can only "reduce money". Recently, TSMC has reported that it has closed some EUV lithography machine production lines and encouraged employees to take more vacations. This has also aroused many netizens' doubts. Can TSMC not afford the electricity bills of EUV lithography machines and the salary and benefits of employees?
In fact, TSMC's current situation is indeed not optimistic. First, TSMC has fallen at a disadvantage in terms of priority use rights of EUV lithography machines. As we all know, TSMC holds more than 80 EUV lithography machines in hand, and this is the key to TSMC's out-of-the-box.
However, according to ASML, it is restricted by the US chip ban, and Intel is the key support target of the US chip bill, so the first 0.55NA EUV lithography machine produced by ASML will be given priority to Intel, and TSMC and Samsung have become "spare tires".
Secondly, in terms of 3nm process technology , TSMC lags behind . As TSMC's main competitor, Samsung has never given up catching up with TSMC. In terms of 3nm process technology, Samsung has already started production and is expected to achieve mass production of GAA process 3nm chips next year. On the other hand, TSMC seems to have encountered difficulties in the 3nm process, and its development progress is not as expected.
Third, TSMC lost its pricing power . When Huawei was TSMC's second largest customer, TSMC's main customers were not all American companies. Therefore, TSMC is relatively free and has pricing power, and can also make decisions on the price increase plan. But without the support of Chinese companies (Huawei), American companies are "in charge of the country", and the situation is different.
So when TSMC proposed the price increase plan for 2023, it carefully gave Apple special treatment and came up with a customized Vip price increase plan, but Apple still refused. Subsequently, Qualcomm, Nvidia and other companies also applied for "price increase exemption".
In general, TSMC's advantages are being weakened step by step. The excessive dependence on US technology, US equipment and US companies ultimately makes TSMC suffer the consequences. Therefore, domestic technology companies should also cause misses. Don’t have any illusions about beauty. “De-beautification” must be put on the agenda. What do you think about this? Welcome to comment and leave a message!
