TSMC's three major actions have attracted attention, and the market analyzes the company's trend
Halfway to 2023, leading chipmaker TSMC has taken three new measures that are not only related to the company's activities, but also reflect trends in the chip industry as a whole.
First, TSMC has increased the 28nm wafer capacity of its mainland fab despite a one-year delay in the construction of its wafer fab in the United States, and its current president, Liu Deyin, said that TSMC is expanding the capacity of its 28nm fab in Nanjing as originally planned and firmly supports customers in the mainland market.
The news is a mixed bag, why?
Due to the postponement of the U.S. factory, TSMC has received more orders for AI chips from the mainland, and is actively expanding the production capacity of the 28nm process at the Nanjing factory, firmly supporting customers in the mainland market.
In fact, TSMC has been suppressing the development of the mainland's chip manufacturing industry, and SMIC is deeply touched by this.
Now, TSMC is looking to Chinese mainland companies for advantages in low-end chip manufacturing, and then turning to competition for 28nm chips and other mature processes, rather than competing in the market.
After all, TSMC's overcapacity of high-end chips of 7nm and below has canceled 40% of orders for EUV lithography equipment, and revenue has declined for the first time.
What's more, the U.S. factories have been looted, and the construction of the factories involves huge costs, subsidies cannot be applied, and the risk of technology being stolen by the United States is simply at the bottom of the swamp.
Therefore, TSMC and its henchmen originally favored the low-end chip market such as 28nm, which could make up for the loss of revenue in the high-end market, and secondly, they could also suppress competitors and play a good hand.
The second measure was to secure a large number of orders for 7nm AI chips from mainland companies after TSMC President Wei Zhejia and three other executives visited Shanghai.
With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, the demand for orders for related high-performance chips is also increasing day by day. Among them, Ali Pinzhi and ZTE Microelectronics have increased orders for TSMC's 7-nanometer chips since the first quarter.
Of course, receiving orders is naturally a good thing for TSMC, after all, the 7nm process is a high-end chip with a high profit margin.
And for the mainland market, this is not necessarily a bad thing, because the reality is that TSMC is one of the only companies that can produce chips of 7nm and below, and the market demand has reached this point, so from this point of view, it is also a win-win result.
The third measure is that, according to Liu Deyin's announcement, TSMC originally planned to mass produce 4-nanometer chips in the US factory in 2024, but due to the lack of sufficient technical personnel and ** chain in the United States, the progress of factory construction was hindered and mass production was postponed to 2025.
In fact, the news is not surprising at all.
When TSMC invested 12 billion to build a factory in the United States, founder Zhang Zhongmou warned that it was a mistake to build a high-end tablet factory in the United States, and the New York Times also pointed out that it was a bad business decision.
Today's reality also proves that Zhang Zhongmou's words are not false.
Not only did TSMC's investment cost more than $40 billion, but its plans to build a core in the United States suffered a major setback. This is a huge risk for TSMC, as delays in mass production mean higher costs and even bad business.
Therefore, overall, TSMC's three new measures reflect the development trend of the entire integrated circuit industry. With the continuous expansion and upgrading of the Chinese mainland market, the demand for related chips has also remained strong.
However, it should be noted that it is necessary to be vigilant against TSMC's disguised suppression of the mainland chip manufacturing industry.