Taiwan Semiconductor Manufac-turing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world's largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday it had received Intel Corp's Preferred Quality Supplier (PQS) award.
TSMC said in a statement released yesterday that it had received the award for its efforts to supply the Santa Clara, California-based company with high-quality processed wafers.
To qualify for PQS status, suppliers of Intel, the world's largest semiconductor maker, must meet high standards in cost, quality, availability, delivery, technology and responsiveness.
"TSMC for the second year in a row has provided excellent support to Intel particularly on the wireless and WiMAX Platforms, and provides a performance benchmark for our foundry programs," Suresh Sachdev, director of Intel's Component Contract Manufacturing and Procurement Operations, said in a statement.
"TSMC demonstrated excellent customer support through solid execution, collaborative design and high quality throughout the year," Sachdev said.
TSMC and 43 additional PQS award winners were scheduled to be honored at a celebration in Burlingame, California, yesterday, the statement said.
Hsinchu-based TSMC last year cemented its leading global status in the contract chipmaking industry, also known as foundry business, with a 45.2 percent market share and revenues of US$9.7 billion, according to the latest tallies compiled by market researcher Gartner Inc.
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the TSMC's closest rival, which is also based in Hsinchu, remained the world's No. 2 foundry with a market share of less than 15 percent last year.
United Microelectronics Corp was followed by Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd (特許), China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (中芯) and IBM of the US, Gartner said.
"As the largest wafer foundry service provider in the world, TSMC is the primary beneficiary of the long-term growth and outsourcing trends in the semiconductor industry," Kevin Chang (
While facing risks such as the industry's highly cyclical nature, large capital intensity and reliance on outsourcing orders, TSMC's economies of scale, coupled with a broad product range and cutting-edge technology expertise, were viewed by analysts as the company's greatest advantage to extend its manufacturing and financial leadership over rivals in years ahead.
"TSMC's service-centric operating model has enabled the company to establish a high competitive barrier of customer loyalty," Chang said in a statement.
"As the first-choice wafer foundry for integrated device manufacturers and fabless IC design companies, TSMC is well positioned to weather any adverse change in market demand conditions," he added.
Fitch Ratings yesterday affirmed TSMC's long-term foreign currency Issuer Default rating (IDR) at "A-" and assigned it a long-term local currency IDR of "A-" with a stable outlook.
The ratings agency also affirmed UMC's long-term foreign currency IDR at "BBB" and assigned the same rating on the chipmaker's long-term local currency IDR, with a stable outlook.
To further fortify its customer base, UMC has began commercial run of the 65-nanometer process technology and completed its pilot run at 45 nanometers.
RSS