Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited (TSMC; 台灣積體電路製造股份有限公司) is a Taiwanese multinational semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company. It is one of Taiwan's largest companies,[1][2] the world's most valuable semiconductor company,[3] and the world's largest dedicated independent (pure-play) semiconductor foundry,[4] with its headquarters and main operations located in the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan. TSMC has a global capacity of about 13 million 300mm equivalent wafers per year as of 2020, and makes microchips for customers with process nodes from 2 micron to 5 nanometers. TSMC is the first foundry to provide 5 and 7 nanometer production capabilities and the first to commercialize extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) technology in high volume.
History
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.[5][6] It has been listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE: 2330) since 1993; in 1997 it became the first Taiwanese company to be listed in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: TSM). Since 1994, TSMC has had a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.4% in revenue and a CAGR of 16.1% in earnings.[7] When Chang retired in 2018, after 31 years of TSMC leadership, Mark Liu and C. C. Wei, both high ranking TSMC leaders, became Chairman and Chief Executive respectively.[8][9]
TSMC and Apple
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.[10][11] According to reports,[12] as of May 2014, Apple is sourcing its new A8 and A8X SoCs from TSMC[13][14] 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.[14][15] The Apple A14 and M1 processors have completely saturated TSMC's 5nm production capacity, leading to reports that some units could be outsourced back to Samsung while TSMC and Apple work on preparing a 3 nanometer process for release in 2022.[16][17]
References
- ↑ Taiwan chipmaker TSMC's earnings soar 91%, Companies & Markets News & Top Stories. The Straits Times (17 April 2020). Retrieved on 15 May 2020.
- ↑ Taiwan chip giant TSMC wants 30,000 employees... | Taiwan News (24 March 2020). Retrieved on 15 May 2020.
- ↑ Taiwan's TSMC to build Arizona chip plant as U.S.-China tech rivalry escalates. Reuters (15 May 2020). Retrieved on 25 May 2020.
- ↑ "Advanced Technology Key to Strong Foundry Revenue per Wafer", IC Insights, 12 October 2018. Retrieved on 14 July 2019.
- ↑ Company Profile. TSMC. Retrieved on 20 December 2010.
- ↑ D&R Foundry Corner. Design & Reuse. Retrieved on 18 May 2014.
- ↑ 11 March, Tim Phillips | (11 March 2020). Forget China Mobile. Buy This Stock to Play the 5G and AI Supercycle (zh-hans).
- ↑ Jennings, Ralph. How Taiwan Chipmaker TSMC Will Prosper For 5 More Years Without Its Iconic Founder (en).
- ↑ Horwitz, Josh. After spawning a $100 billion industry, Taiwan's "godfather" of computer chips is retiring (en).
- ↑ 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 on 13 September 2011.
- ↑ TSMC Beginning Production Of Apple's New A6 Processor. Techcrunch (12 August 2011). Retrieved on 13 September 2011.
- ↑ Apple begins receiving shipments of A-series processors from TSMC - report. AppleInsider (10 July 2014). Retrieved on 2 November 2014.
- ↑ TSMC to Snatch All of Apple's A8 chip Orders?. TechNews (17 February 2014). Retrieved on 18 May 2014.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Apple driving move to 64-bit mobile processors, TSMC says. CNET (17 April 2014). Retrieved on 23 May 2014.
- ↑ Apple chips to be 20% of TSMC sales. Taipei Times (15 April 2014). Retrieved on 18 May 2014.
- ↑ Apple blamed IBM and Intel for Mac chip delays, but TSMC won’t be next by Jeremy Horwitz, VentureBeat. 2020-11-13.
- ↑ Apple chip maker TSMC plans 5-nanometer chips for 2020, 3-nanometer in 2022 by Jeremy Horwitz, VentureBeat. 2018-01-26.
