Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares tumbled 3.03 percent yesterday as investors worried about an Intel Corp plan to return to the foundry business.
The stock closed at NT$571 in Taipei trading, with turnover surging to 115.32 million shares, the most in about a month, after Intel chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger announced it would invest US$20 billion to build two new fabs in Arizona, as well as develop a new standalone foundry business to make chips for other companies.
At the same time, Intel would bolster its partnerships with third-party foundries to farm out more production, Intel said in a statement.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
The move might create an awkward competitive-collaboration environment between the company and foundries.
The Santa Clara, California-based chipmaker is to offer intellectual property (IP) portfolios for customers, including for its own x86 cores, as well as Arm Ltd and RISC-V ecosystem IP, it said.
The announcement is a clear indication that “Intel is determined to come back to foundry business,” Cornucopia Capital Partner Ltd (聚芯資本) managing partner Eric Chen (陳慧明) said by telephone.
“This is certainly bad news for TSMC, but how bad it is depends on how Intel allocates its capacity and resources to fulfill its goal of becoming a world-class foundry,” Chen said.
All in all, it will require more than determination for Intel to become a real challenger to TSMC, the world’s biggest foundry service provider, he said.
“There is a long way to go,” Chen said, adding that TSMC has become a big foundry with significant capacity and IP investment.
“I doubt Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp or Advanced Micro Devices Inc will turn to Intel for chip supply, given unresolved lawsuits and direct competition,” he said.
Intel has lagged behind TSMC in advancing chip manufacturing technologies.
The US chipmaker yesterday said it is to enter the final design stage of 7-nanometer chips this year, while TSMC plans to start mass production of 3-nanometer chips next year.
“Intel is doing the right thing,” Chen said.
Its plan would allow the company to secure substantial subsides and resources from the US government, as Washington is pushing for products to be made in the US and reduce its dependence on TSMC for chip supply, he said.
In addition, Intel’s heavy investment in new fabs would attract suppliers of semiconductor components and materials to Arizona, making the state a major semiconductor manufacturing hub, like science parks in Taiwan, he said.
TSMC in 2023 plans to complete a new US$12 billion fab in Arizona to make 5-nanometer chips.
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) yesterday expressed a downbeat view about the prospects of humanoid robots, given high manufacturing costs and a lack of target customers. Despite rising demand and high expectations for humanoid robots, high research-and-development costs and uncertain profitability remain major concerns, Lam told reporters following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taoyuan. “Since it seems a bit unworthy to use such high-cost robots to do household chores, I believe robots designed for specific purposes would be more valuable and present a better business opportunity,” Lam said Instead of investing in humanoid robots, Quanta has opted to invest
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