TSMC's lead
For a long time, TSMC has occupied an absolute leading position in the global chip manufacturing industry, and it has more than half of the global chip foundry market share, which can be called the big brother of global chip foundry. The key to TSMC's ability to gain such a high market share is that its process technology and equipment level have been leading for a long time.
In terms of process technology, TSMC continues to promote the miniaturization of the manufacturing process, taking the lead in mastering the world's most advanced 3nm chip process technology, and realizing mass production and commercial application. This makes TSMC's chip performance and cost at the best level in the industry. In terms of equipment, TSMC has a large number of key equipment such as advanced EUV lithography machines. The EUV lithography machine is currently the key equipment for manufacturing the most advanced chips, and TSMC has obtained nearly half of the EUV lithography machine ** from the manufacturer ASML, ensuring TSMC's leading position in process equipment.
Because of its leading process technology and a large number of advanced equipment, TSMC has attracted many world-class chip companies, including Apple and Qualcomm, to become customers. These giant chip companies handed over the vast majority of chip orders to TSMC for production, making TSMC gain more than half of the world's chip foundry market share. It can be said that with the dual leading advantages in process technology and equipment, TSMC has won the leading position in the global chip foundry.
Competitors quickly caught up
While TSMC leads the global chip manufacturing industry, competitors are also rapidly catching up. In particular, Samsung and Intel, two companies are fast catching up with TSMC in process technology and key equipment.
First of all, Samsung, through a large amount of investment, its process technology level is rapidly improving, and it has approached the leading level of TSMC. Whether it is the yield rate or the difficulty of the process, the gap between Samsung and TSMC is not large. This puts a lot of pressure on TSMC. On the other hand, TSMC has also encountered difficulties in advancing the 2nm process, and its 2nm mass production schedule has been delayed. At the same time, Intel is progressing very well on the 2nm process and is expected to achieve mass production in 2024, and may even surpass TSMC.
More critically, ASML's latest generation of NA EUV lithography machines will be given to Intel first, not to long-time customer TSMC. This state-of-the-art lithography machine is of great significance for the manufacture of 2nm process chips. This means that TSMC's advantage in key process equipment is no longer there.
To sum up, whether it is Samsung's process catch-up, or Intel's progress in the 2nm process and key equipment, it shows that TSMC's lead is being eroded. Competitors are quickly catching up with TSMC by various means.
TSMC's dilemma
In the situation of rapid catch-up by competitors, TSMC is facing an increasing dilemma, and its leading position in the chip manufacturing industry is being challenged unprecedentedly.
The first is the challenge from Intel. Intel plans to invest up to $100 billion in the United States to build a chip manufacturing plant, and has reopened the chip foundry business. This means that many U.S. chip companies, especially politically sensitive ones, are likely to shift orders from TSMC to Intel.
In fact, American chip giants such as Qualcomm have expressed their intention to turn to Intel. Considering that Intel's production capacity in the United States has far exceeded TSMC, this is undoubtedly a heavy blow to TSMC. In addition, foreign media generally believe that with Intel catching up, TSMC's long-term advantage in the chip manufacturing industry has begun to reverse, which will also seriously affect its future market position. There are various signs that TSMC's leading position as a chip foundry is facing an unprecedented severe test.
If the situation continues to deteriorate, it is worrying whether TSMC will be able to maintain its position as the largest brother of the global chip foundry, and whether its market share will continue to decline. In any case, TSMC must face up to the changes in the competitive situation and take strong measures to deal with the challenges in all aspects, otherwise its leading position in the industry may be gradually replaced. 100 help plan