Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has won the Corporate Innovation Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) for its leadership in 7-nanometer semiconductor foundry technology, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker said yesterday.
“TSMC’s technology leadership, paired with its foundry business model, meant that TSMC’s 7-nanometer technology marked the first time that the world’s most advanced logic technology was available to the entire semiconductor industry as an open platform,” TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) said in a statement.
Liu thanked the institute for recognizing TSMC with the award.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
“It gives us further inspiration to continue finding new ways to unleash our customers’ innovations,” Liu said.
Since TSMC’s 7-nanometer technology entered volume production in April 2018, it has manufactured more than 1 billion dies to make hundreds of products for dozens of customers, the company said.
In the context of integrated circuits, a die is a small block of semiconducting material on which a functional circuit is fabricated.
The 7-nanometer technology has enabled IC designers to deliver innovations that would not otherwise be possible in critical technology areas such as artificial intelligence, data centers, advanced driver assistance systems, high-performance computing, 5G communications and smartphones, the statement said.
To support its customers with the broadest and most advanced portfolio of technologies, the firm invests about 8 percent of its revenue in research and development, devoting US$2.96 billion last year to areas including advanced logic processes, 3D IC system integration solutions and specialty processes, TSMC said.
Building on the successful 7-nanometer platform, TSMC brought its 5-nanometer process into mass production this year, and volume production of 3-nanometer semiconductors is scheduled to begin in 2022, the company said.
The New York-based IEEE has more than 400,000 members from 160 countries.
The IEEE Corporate Innovation Award, established in 1985, is presented annually to an industrial, governmental or academic entity, or other corporate body, to recognize outstanding and exemplary contributions in an IEEE field of interest.
Separately, the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) on Monday honored TSMC founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) and three other technology pioneers for their contribution to Taiwan’s industrial development.
Hsinchu Science Park director general Wayne Wang (王永壯) said that a ceremony would be held on Tuesday next week to honor Chang, Acer Inc (宏碁) founder Stan Shih (施振榮), United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) founder Robert Tsao (曹興誠) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) founder Tsai Ming-kai (蔡明介).
The ceremony is part of the 40th anniversary celebrations of the Hsinchu Science Park, which houses many of Taiwan’s major electronics exporting companies, including those of the four honorees, Wang said.
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