As we all know, the United States imposed sanctions on Huawei HiSilicon's semiconductor business this year. After September 15, chip manufacturers such as TSMC will no longer manufacture chips for Huawei. After losing Huawei as a major customer, TSMC did not suffer much losses.
According to Taiwanese media reports, TSMC has accelerated the advancement of advanced processes and recently expanded its order releases. The cumulative number of EUV machines will exceed 50 by the end of 2021. The report pointed out that in comparison, Samsung Electronics had less than 25 units in 2021, and its EUV POD (mask delivery box) procurement volume was far lower than expected.
TSMC held its annual technology symposium in August where it revealed its cutting-edge manufacturing prowess. TSMC accounts for 50% of the industry’s EUV (extreme ultraviolet) equipment installations. In addition, TSMC also owns about 60% of the cumulative production of EUV wafers .
ASML is the only company that manufactures and sells EUV lithography equipment. Cutress previously estimated that TSMC has purchased 30-35 devices from ASML. By this estimate, ASML has sold about 70 machines and may sell 90 by the end of 2020.
According to the latest news, after the large-scale production of the 5nm process, the next generation major chip process technology that TSMC will put into production is 3nm. It is currently advancing as planned and plans to start risk trial production in 2021. will be launched in the second half of 2022. Large-scale production.
It is reported that TSMC has prepared four waves of production capacity for its 3nm process, and most of the first wave of production capacity will be reserved for their major customer Apple.
media reported that TSMC is currently promoting the large-scale production of the 3nm process in the second half of 2022 as planned, with a set production capacity of 55,000 wafers per month. However, 55,000 wafers is the monthly production capacity at the initial stage of production, and will gradually increase thereafter. The monthly production capacity will increase to 100,000 wafers in 2023.
3nm is the first TSMC advanced process that Huawei has been absent from in recent years. Prior to this, whether it was 7nm or 5nm, Huawei was one of TSMC's most important customers. If the ban is not lifted, TSMC’s advanced processes may not be available to Huawei in the future.
In addition, TSMC's next three waves of production capacity will also be booked by many manufacturers, including Intel . Among the
capacity bookers will be Intel, which means that according to foreign media, TSMC’s 3nm process will receive orders from Intel. However, foreign media reports did not disclose which wave of TSMC’s 3nm process capacity will be booked by Intel.
