In this era, chips have become a necessary condition for our survival. It lets us know everything from small devices that help you listen to music and watch videos to large devices that can power your car and keep you warm. The semiconductor industry is very large, but there is still room for growth. When examining the semiconductor market, there are two key factors to pay attention to—foundry and fable companies.
foundry produces chips and sells them to fable companies, which in turn sells them to end users. TSMC (TSMC) is the world's largest foundry, which means investors can take advantage of its high demand and strong growth. By market value, the company is also one of the leading companies in the semiconductor industry.
TSMC's history
TSMC was founded in 1987 by Dr. Zhang Zhongmou. Since then, the company has grown into the world's largest chip company with a market value of US$465.54 billion. The company is headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan and has manufacturing plants in Taiwan, mainland China and the United States. TSMC is the largest chip supplier for Apple . It also provides products to companies such as Qualcomm , Nvidia and AMD.
TSMC has been decades
1987-1992: Innovating Taiwan’s semiconductor industry
TSMC was founded in 1987 and is the main catalyst for the transformation of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry. It provides cutting-edge manufacturing processes to complement Taiwan’s strength in chip design. From 1987 to 1992, TSMC gradually increased its foundry production capacity, and in 1988, vertically integrated wafer classification test, mask manufacturing in 1990, design services using VLSI technology in 1991, and improved the technologies used in its processes. . Before breaking the 1 micron barrier in 1991, it started as a 6-inch, 2-micron wafer processing and manufacturing facility or wafer fab.
TSMC was created to serve Taiwan’s design companies that are well-known for chip design but do not want to get involved in the manufacturing process. On the other hand, TSMC has rapidly developed into an international, profit-oriented organization that helps the development of fable semiconductor companies, i.e. companies that do not have their own manufacturing facilities. Fabric semiconductor companies are good at design but lack the funds to build manufacturing facilities.
By 1992, TSMC had become the world's leading silicon foundry, producing chips for other companies. With 250 process engineers, TSMC is at the forefront of process technology. TSMC produces 80% of Taiwan's SRAM as well as various other semiconductor chips , including DRAM and EPROM. In 1992, revenue was approximately $245 million.
electronics manufacturing plant. TSMC is the world's leading silicon foundry.
1994-1996: Construction of new facilities to increase production capacity
TSMC was listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange in September 1994. Before the end of the year, TSMC and AMD Corporation (AMD) announced an agreement to allow TSMC to provide foundry services for AMD's AM486 processors. TSMC's sales in 1994 were $744 million and profits were $325 million. Between 1992 and 1994, global semiconductor sales increased by 60%, resulting in a shortage of wafer manufacturing capabilities. Most of TSMC's sales (60%) are to fable semiconductor companies, while 40% are to companies that do not have enough manufacturing capabilities. TSMC has the highest gross profit margin in the semiconductor field, at 49%.
TSMC announced in March 1995 that it would invest $1.2 billion to build a second 8-inch wafer fab. Compared to the 8-inch, 0.5 to 0.35 micron plants proposed by other Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturers, TSMC's fourth new plant was initially designed at 0.4 microns and later at 0.25 microns. In November 1995, the new 8-inch fab began work. The deposit paid by customers to ensure long-term wafer fab capacity was an option TSMC began to offer customers in mid-1995, helping to pay for some factories.
TSMC's ability to produce 6-inch (150 mm) wafers nearly doubled from 665,000 wafers in 1993 to 1.2 million wafers in 1995. Its three 6-inch fabs, Fab 1, Fab 2A and Fab 2B, run at the highest efficiency, producing 100,000 wafers per month.8-inch wafer manufacturer Fab 3 is expected to reach a total production capacity of 22,000 wafers per month in 1997 and a total production capacity of 35,000 wafers per month by 1998. Fab 4 is scheduled to go online in 1997 and reach its maximum monthly capacity of 25,000 8-inch wafers in 1998. Before the end of 1995, the construction of Fab 5's Hsinchu was announced.
TSMC and Altera company announced a joint venture in November 1995 to establish a wafer manufacturing plant in the United States. After considering the locations of Oregon and British Columbia , TSMC decided to build a $1.2 billion factory in Camas, Washington. The plant will be able to produce 30,000 8-inch wafers per month, starting with 0.35 micron Line Geometry and moving to 0.25 microns as needed. By mid-1996, the facility’s joint venture partners (called WaferTech) were Analog Devices and Integrated Silicon Solutions Inc. (ISSI). Altera acquired 18% of WaferTech for a $140 million investment. Analog Devices owns 18%, ISSI owns 4%, private investors own 3%, and TSMC owns 57%.
At the end of April 1996, TSMC raised more than US$500 million by selling 305 million ADR (American Depositary Receipts) shares, becoming the first Taiwanese company to be listed on New York Stock Exchange . Philips Electronics then owns approximately 35% of TSMC. TSMC's sales in 1996 were $1.45 billion and profits were $718.5 million.
1997-1999: Challenges, sales reduction and capacity increase
TaipeiChii expects sales to decline and profits to fall by 50% since 1997. Due to overcapacity and fierce competition, the company announced a price cut. United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) recently replaced long-time rival Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Pte Ltd. Singapore Co., Ltd. has established three independent foundry companies, , with several North American design companies in the past 18 months, becoming TSMC's main competitor. , Lianhua Electronics, is also raising prices. Donald Brooks, who has served as president of TSMC since 1991, resigned in March 1997 and was replaced by TSMC Chairman Zhang Zhongmou. Brooks later became president of TSMC, a rival to United Microelectronics, a new international operation unit in Sunnyvale, California.
Around this time, TSMC announced a decade-long expansion plan that included an investment of $14.5 billion to build six 8-inch and 12-inch (300mm) manufacturing facilities, among others. In addition, the company has announced a long-term commitment with the Tainan government to establish a new science industrial park in Tainan City, the southernmost province of Taiwan. Starting in mid-1997, TSMC plans to spend $1.4 billion to build the Fab 6 there. As mentioned earlier, the company's expansion space in Hsinchu has run out.
Although the global semiconductor industry is expected to grow slowly in 1998, TSMC was full in the first quarter and announced a 40% increase in its 8-inch wafer production to 1.67 million pieces. The company intends to increase production of two 8-inch wafer fabs and start construction of several plants, two of which are located in Taiwan’s new Tainan Science Industrial Park. WaferTech should start production in the middle of the year.
By mid-1998, the semiconductor manufacturing industry was experiencing severe weakness, with prices and demand falling. After operating at full capacity at the beginning of the year, TSMC operated at 80% of its production capacity. As a result, the company announced that it would reduce its capital expenditure budget in 1998 from $1.3 billion to $920 million, and estimated spending in 1999 was $80-900 million. In 1999, the company appointed a new president, FC Tseng, and announced plans to offer copper metallization processes and transition to 0.18 micron process technology. According to the Electronic Engineering Times, TSMC is driving its process technology at a speed that seems to be comparable to larger competitors such as Intel , IBM and NEC.
2000-present: Acquisition, Growth and Expansion
The company has been upgrading its manufacturing capabilities for most of its existence. In 2011, the company plans to increase R&D expenditure by nearly 39% to NT$450 billion. To meet market demand, the company plans to increase its capacity by 30% in 2011.After forecasting demand higher than expected, the TSMC Board approved $568 million in May 2014 to build, convert and upgrade advanced technology capacity. The TSMC Board of Directors approved $3.05 billion in capital expenditure in August 2014. TSMC began trial production of Apple A5 and A6 SoCs in 2011. ARM and TSMC announced a multi-year protocol for the development of a 10-nanometer FinFET ARM processor in October 2014.
Taipei signed RE100 in 2020, pledging to use 100% renewable energy by 2050. TSMC consumes 5% of Taiwan’s energy, exceeding Taipei. The initiative aims to accelerate the country's transition to renewable energy. Due to the global semiconductor shortage from 2020 to 2022, the price of UMC increased by 7-9%, and TSMC increased by 20%.
TSMC and Sony announced in November 2021 that TSMC will establish a new Japanese Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing (JASM) subsidiary in Kumamoto, Japan. The new subsidiary will produce 22 and 28 nanometer processes. Sony will invest $500 million, accounting for less than 20% of the initial $7 billion. Construction of the manufacturing plant will begin in 2022 and start production in 2024. TSMC announced in July 2022 that net revenue in the second quarter increased by 76.4% year-on-year. The automotive and data center industries are growing steadily, but the consumer market slows. Some capital expenditure is expected in 2023.
TSMC (TSMC) is a factory located in the Tainan Science Park in Taiwan; TSMC is the world's largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry.
TMSC is the largest chip (semiconductor) company on the planet
TSMC (TSMC) is the world's largest foundry chip manufacturer. They are also the largest pure foundry and one of the largest semiconductor companies in the world. TSMC has been in operation for more than 30 years and its customers include some well-known figures in the tech industry, such as Apple, Qualcomm and Nvidia.
The company has over 50,000 employees worldwide and has 12 manufacturing facilities worldwide. Taiwan is currently sought after for its ability to produce cutting-edge computer chips. In terms of market share, TSMC occupied 55.6% of the global semiconductor foundry market in the fourth quarter of 2020, while , Samsung, accounted for 16.4% of the market share. One of their main advantages is that they can produce any type of integrated circuit equipment and are able to meet the production required by well-known companies such as Apple and AMD. As the automotive industry experienced a chip shortage from parking sensors to emission reduction, TSMC's role in the global supply chain has been under the radar before its recent rise. The severity of the impact forced automakers such as Toyota, Germany's Volkswagen and Ford Motor Company. The United States has stopped production and idle factories, and Taiwan is now too important to be ignored.
Recently, Taiwan’s Minister of Economic Affairs admitted the issue and believed that Taiwan’s major chip manufacturers were willing to prioritize automakers in their supply chains. TSMC said in another statement that its priority is to solve the chip supply challenges. “The automotive supply chain is broad and complex, and we work with automotive customers to identify their most pressing needs. TSMC is currently accelerating these important automotive products through our fabs. While demand in all industries has exhausted all of our capacity, TSMC is redistributing wafer capacity to support the global automotive industry,” the company’s CEO said.
Semiconductor's top foundry or manufacturing facilities are currently located in Taiwan, South Korea and the United States. Most of the specialized equipment used in these manufacturing facilities is provided by American and Japanese companies. The world's largest and most complex foundry manufacturer is TSMC. TSMC's mass production is largely powered by supplying custom chips designed by Apple and Huawei , the two largest smartphone manufacturers. Given that TSMC’s supply has been constrained by strong demand from other manufacturers in early 2020, meeting the growth in demand for chips by automakers by the end of 2020 has been challenging. Even the U.S., Europe and Japan automakers are begging their governments for assistance and urged Taiwan and TSMC to step up their actions.
The importance of TSMC and Taiwan as chip manufacturing bases can be seen, even if the company builds factories abroad, it will be lagging behind: TSMC's 5-nanometer factory in , Arizona, will not be put into use until 2024. By then, TSMC will already mass-produce the next generation of 3-nanometer chips in Taiwan. Even with the cooperation of friendly governments like the United States, the Taiwan business ecosystem that promotes TSMC's rise is unlikely to be replicated quickly abroad under market conditions. Custom chips will be needed to meet the computing needs of machine learning as the technology becomes more specialized. That being said, TSMC is in a very strong position in the next three years of the market, which is expected to grow to $16 billion, thanks to its ability to design and produce cutting-edge chips that support AI applications.
TMSC's future
In the second half of 2022, TSMC plans to mass-produce 3nm chips. These chips are expected to have a logic density of 70% higher than their 5nm chips, a 15% faster speed at the same power level and a 30% lower power at the same speed.
's future chips will be produced using TSMC's 3nm process, including Qualcomm's next-generation Snapdragon, AMD's Zen 5 CPU and Apple's new first-party processor. Even Intel outsourced some of its chips to TSMC's 3nm supply line, although it recently doubled its domestic foundry program. Because of this, TSMC's 3nm nodes have been reserved for all of them until 2024.
TSMC intends to increase its capital expenditure from $17.2 billion in 2020 to about $30 billion this year, and invest about $100 billion over the next three years to meet this demand and maintain a leading position. In addition, it has begun to develop 2nm chips and is expected to start mass production in 2026.
This is the largest chip (semiconductor) company FAQ (FAQ)
Who is the world's largest chip manufacturer?
The world's largest foundry chip manufacturer is TSMC.
What is the future of the semiconductor industry?
As industry competition intensifies, the focus will be on improving the sales and marketing of semiconductor technology. Semiconductor sales have grown steadily in the last century. Experts predict that the industry will generate $542.64 billion in revenue each year by 2022. Therefore, the semiconductor sales and marketing team should expect the market to continue to grow.
Which country manufactures the most microchip ?
East Asia is 75% of the production site. Taiwan produces 90% of the cutting-edge chips. China is making every effort to dominate the world market in order to compete with other countries and have various applications, including military.
Is there any risk in TSMC?
Due to the global market instability brought by the events from 2020 to 2022, TSMC seems to be in trouble as trade shipments stagnate. Since Taiwan’s relationship with the mainland is always in danger, it can be said that domestic companies are in danger. However, the value of semiconductors, especially TSMC, cannot be underestimated. Even with the worst happening, TSMC is likely to survive.
When was TSMC established?
TSMC was founded by Zhang Zhongmou in 1987 under the guidance of the Taiwan government.
Who founded TSMC?
TSMC was founded by Zhang Zhongmou and the Taiwan government. After working at Texas Instruments, Morris Chang learned about the manufacturing process and parts requirements of the technology industry in the late 1980s. He used this experience to found TSMC in Hsinchu, Taiwan with Chang Chun Moi and Tseng Fan Cheng, where he continued to serve as CEO of TSMC until 2006.
