Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, on Thursday pledged to forge closer ties with its suppliers to boost efforts in developing 3-nanometer (nm) process technology.
“While the global economy has been ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, TSMC still leads the world in the development of 5nm process technology, with strong support from its suppliers,” TSMC senior vice president for information technology and materials and risk management J.K. Lin (林錦坤) told a supply chain management forum on Thursday.
“As TSMC has started development of the more sophisticated 3nm process, it is determined to strengthen its cooperation with suppliers to enhance its global competitive edge,” Lin said.
Mass production of 5nm process technology started in the second quarter and accounted for 8 percent of TSMC’s total sales in the third quarter.
TSMC has started developing the 3nm process by building a production site in Tainan and expects to start commercial production in 2022.
The chipmaker added that it is already eyeing development of 2nm process technology.
Almost 700 suppliers attended the forum, including semiconductor production equipment makers, raw material producers, back-end integrated circuit packaging and testing services providers, and environmental protection and waste treatment firms.
Lin thanked the suppliers for their contributions, saying that their efforts have not only helped TSMC upgrade its technology, but have also enhanced its energy conservation, carbon reduction and pollution prevention capabilities, allowing it to meet its corproate sustainability targets.
In related news, the TAIEX yesterday rose to at an all-time high, boosted by a rally of TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock in the local market, dealers said.
The index climbed 1.11 percent to close at 14,132.44, on turnover of NT$286.966 billion (US$10.06 billion).
“TSMC served again as the main driver of the TAIEX as investors remained upbeat about its shipments on solid demand for the chipmaker’s high-end technologies,” Concord Capital Management (康和投顧) analyst Jason Chen said.
“At a time when emerging technologies, such as 5G applications and high performance computing devices, are seeing rising shipments, TSMC’s capacity has turned very tight. There are no doubts about the company’s fundamentals,” Chen said.
TSMC rose 1.21 percent to close at a new high of NT$503, contributing about 66 points to the TAIEX’s increase and helping the electronics sector and the semiconductor sub-index gain 1.35 percent and 1.53 percent respectively.
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