Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) reported that the US last year approved 99 percent of its patent applications, which placed the tech giant among the top patent holders in the US.
In its Corporate Social Responsibility Report, TSMC said it last year secured about 3,600 patents worldwide, including more than 2,300 in the US.
As of the end of last year, TSMC owned more than 39,000 patents, the report said.
Photo: Reuters
The company last year filed almost 6,500 patent applications worldwide and ranked among the top 10 patent applicants in the US. In Taiwan, it was the largest patent applicant for the fourth consecutive year.
As of the end of last year, TSMC had filed more than 55,000 patent applications worldwide.
The chipmaker, which has a more than 50 percent share of the world’s pure wafer foundry business, said that to protect its intellectual property, maintain a lead over its peers and boost its competitive edge, it is determined to strengthen its intellectual property portfolio.
Also in the report, TSMC said it last year spent US$2.96 billion on research and development (R&D), a new high in the company’s history.
Last year’s R&D spending rose 4 percent from a year earlier, with its R&D workforce growing 5 percent to 6,534.
The expenses amounted to about 8.5 percent of TSMC’s total sales last year.
The company has said it expects its R&D spending would equal 8.5 percent of its annual revenue until 2030.
TSMC reported record-high sales last year of NT$1.07 trillion, and forecast that sales this year would grow 14 to 19 percent, so its R&D spending is expected to reach another high, ranging between US$3.37 billion and US$3.52 billion.
Analysts said that TSMC’s R&D spending is the reason the chipmaker over the past few years has been able to serve as the sole processor provider to Apple Inc for iPhone production.
Through its R&D efforts, TSMC has also secured large orders from HiSilicon Technologies Co (海思半導體) — an integrated circuit design unit of Chinese telecom equipment supplier Huawei Technologies Co (華為) — and US clients such as Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Nvidia Corp and Qualcomm Inc, as well as Taiwanese IC designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科), analysts said.
Analysts also said that TSMC not only leads South Korean rival Samsung Electronics Co, but has also left its Chinese competitor Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (中芯國際) about two generations behind.
STEADY: Prices are to rebound following inventory rebuilding demand, TrendForce said, with Samsung Electronics Co further trimming capacity as it slashes DDR4 lines The contract prices of DRAM chips are to rise by as much as 18 percent sequentially this quarter — the first price upticks in about eight quarters — driven mainly by inventory rebuilding demand for DRAM chips used in mobile devices and PCs, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) projected yesterday. The price rebound is led by a quarterly increase of mobile DRAM chips, which are to climb between 13 percent and 18 percent quarter-on-quarter this quarter, which has not been seen since the fourth quarter of 2021, the Taipei-based market researcher predicted. Likewise, the price of mainstream PC DDR4 DRAM is expected to bounce
CHINA NOT A FRIEND: ‘Newsflash: Democracy is good for your businesses,’ US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said as she gave a speech at a national defense forum US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo on Saturday urged lawmakers, Silicon Valley and US allies to stop China from getting semiconductors and cutting-edge technologies key to national security. Speaking at an annual national defense forum in Simi Valley, California, Raimondo called Beijing “the biggest threat we’ve ever had” and stressed that “China is not our friend.” The world’s top two economies are locked in a fierce commercial and geopolitical rivalry, in which her department plays a leading role. In October, Raimondo unveiled a series of restrictions on the export of advanced chips to China, including those used in the development of artificial intelligence
SOLID FOUNDATION: Given its decades of expertise in megatronics, manufacturing and robotics, Japan has the wherewithal to create its own AI, Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp plans to help build an artificial intelligence (AI) tech-related ecosystem in Japan to meet demand in a country eager to gain an edge in this emerging technology. The US company will seek to partner with Japanese research organizations, companies and start-ups to build factories for AI, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday during opening remarks in a meeting with Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura. The company is to set up an AI research laboratory, and invest in local start-ups and educate the public on using AI, Huang said. Huang earlier this week met with Japanese Prime
A Hong Kong court postponed a court hearing on troubled Chinese property developer Evergrande Group’s (恆大集團) winding-up petition scheduled for yesterday until Jan. 29. Evergrande is trying to win support from its creditors for a plan to restructure more than US$300 billion in debt to stave off liquidation. The company’s lawyer told the court it was requesting an adjournment to “refine” its new debt restructuring plan. The Hong Kong High Court has postponed the hearing over Evergrande’s potential liquidation several times. Judge Linda Chan (陳靜芬) had said in October that yesterday’s hearing would be the last before a decision is handed down. Chan
RSS