Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it is to start high-volume production of its most advanced 20-nanometer (nm) chips next month, a move the chipmaker expects will give its revenue a double-digit boost next year.
The move would also make TSMC the world’s leading contract chipmaker supplying 20nm chips.
Analysts say that mass 20nm chip production could put TSMC in a position to dethrone Samsung Electronics Co as the supplier of Apple Inc’s next-generation A8 chip next year.
TSMC chairman Morris Chang (張忠謀) said in October that 20nm chips would start contributing to the firm's revenue in the second quarter of next year, following the launch of mass production in the first three months of next year.
“The 20nm system-on-a-chip is the most critical ramp-up TSMC has carried out in years. We will start high-volume production of this chip next month,” TSMC president and CEO Mark Liu (劉德音) said in a keynote speech at the company’s annual supply chain management forum in Hsinchu.
Liu said TSMC is on track to ship the chips to its clients on schedule. Thus far, the world’s top contract chipmaker has taped out 20 of the 20nm chips, Liu said in his first public speech after being promoted to co-CEO last month.
The company is expected to ship 165,000 20nm chips to Apple next year, accounting for 10 percent of its revenue that year, Daiwa Capital Markets analyst Eric Chen (陳慧明) said.
Credit Suisse analyst Randy Abrams forecast Apple orders to account for 6.5 percent of TSMC’s overall revenue next year, adding that Qualcomm Inc and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) are to become key clients for TSMC next year.
In the speech, Liu highlighted TSMC’s progress on the 16nm technology front, saying that the company recently initiated the production of 16nm chips and planned to begin mass production within a year.
TSMC is expected to make US$5.4 billion in revenue from advanced 28nm chips this year and the figure could further increase next year, Liu said.
The company, which commands more than 90 percent of the global 28nm chip market, said earlier this year that 28nm chips would be the biggest contributor to revenue this year, since production capacity and revenue are set to triple on an annual basis.
Last quarter, 28nm chips made up 32 percent of TSMC’s revenue of NT$162.58 billion (US$5.48 billion).
As a result, Liu said TSMC’s revenue would show a 17 to 18 percent annual growth this year and grow by double-digit percentage points next year, supported by continuing demand for mobile applications.
That figure would beat the 9 percent annual growth forecast for the contract chipmaking industry, as well as the semiconductor industry’s 5 percent growth.
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV yesterday said that it has reached an agreement to acquire a subsidiary brewery of Taiwan’s Sanyo Whisbih Group (三洋維士比集團). Heineken is to assume majority ownership and management rights of the Long Chuan Zuan Co (龍泉鑽興業) brewery in Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔), the Dutch company said. It would become the first multinational brewing company to operate brewery in Taiwan once the acquisition is completed. The deal has been approved by the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Investment Commission, but details of the financial transaction cannot be disclosed at this time, as terms of the settlement have not been completed,
Had Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck hopped on an electric scooter rather than a Vespa in the classic film Roman Holiday, their spin around the Eternal City might have ended in tears. The number of crashes and near-misses involving the two-wheelers has prompted Rome authorities to impose some order on a booming rental market that began two years ago. The havoc came to a head earlier this month when two US tourists attempted a night-time drive down the Spanish Steps, causing more than 25,000 euros (US$26,392) worth of damage to the 18th-century monument. Caught on security footage, the couple in their late 20s
LOOK WHO OWES: China’s exposure to Taiwanese banks was the second-largest, with Luxembourg third, followed by Hong Kong and Japan, the central bank said The US remained the largest debtor country to Taiwan’s banking sector for a 27th consecutive quarter in the first quarter of this year, with its exposure rising 8.3 percent from a quarter earlier on the back of an increase in US bonds, the central bank said on Friday. Data compiled by the central bank showed that outstanding international claims by Taiwanese banks on a direct risk basis to the US stood at US$125.38 billion as of the end of March. Department of Financial Inspection deputy head Pan Ya-hui (潘雅慧) said that the US Federal Reserve’s launch of a rate hike cycle in
GREEN CITY: The company is set to invest US$8 billion to make electric vehicles and batteries for a new city that would rely entirely on renewable energy sources Indonesia said that Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is considering investing in the country’s new capital city, a move that would bolster the US$34 billion construction project. Hon Hai, which is known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), is looking at setting up an electric bus system and an Internet of Things network at Nusantara, as Indonesia’s new capital is to be called, Indonesian Minister of Investment Bahlil Lahadalia said in a statement yesterday. Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Saturday to discuss the company’s plan to invest US$8 billion to build a manufacturing plant
RSS