Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday expressed confidence that its 2-nanometer process technology would be the most advanced foundry technology in the world when it is introduced in 2025, shrugging off Samsung Electronics Co’s plans to overtake its technology leadership position.
“Today, the 3-nanometer technology we offer is the world’s most advanced technology. When we launch our 2-nanometer technology in 2025, there is no doubt in my mind that it will be the most advanced semiconductor technology in the world,” senior vice president of business development Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said in response to a reporter’s question about Samsung’s plans.
Two enhanced versions, dubbed N2P and N2X, would be launched in 2026, TSMC said during an annual technology symposium in Hsinchu.
Photo: Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Reuters
Samsung aims to surpass its bigger foundry rival TSMC to become the industry leader within five years, the Korea Economic Daily reported on Thursday last week.
The South Korean technology giant expects to get ahead of TSMC with its 2-nanometer processing node, Samsung’s head of semiconductor business Kyun Kye-hyun said during a lecture.
Samsung plans to mass produce 2-nanometer chips in 2025 as well. Its 2-nanometer technology would be based on the get-all-around structure, while TSMC adopts a nano sheet transistor structure, which it believes is a more mature technology, with less power consumption and greater performance.
In preparation for the mass production of its 2-nanometer chips, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is constructing a new factory in Hsinchu and would break ground for another one in Taichung next year.
The 2-nanometer chips would be used in smartphones and high-performance-computing (HPC) devices, the chipmaker said.
Commenting on market concern about TSMC’s 3-nanometer process, Zhang said the technology’s yield would soon catch up with that of its 5-nanometer process.
“We have strong confidence in our 3-nanometer processor, which is stable,” Zhang said. “We are seeing 1.5 to two times the number of customers engaging in our 3-nanometer [technology] compared with 5-nanometer during the initial period.”
Its automaker customers are participating in a program to upgrade to a new version of 3-nanometer auto chips, called Auto Early technology, Zhang said.
The new technology would allow customers to start designing chips two to three years earlier than before and to shorten their time to market, he said.
TSMC last month said that it was unable to meet customers’ demand for 3-nanometer chips.
Most of its smartphone and HPC customers are migrating to the 3-nanometer technology, Zhang said.
TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) yesterday in Hsinchu said that TSMC is a more reliable and trustworthy partner, as it does not compete with its customers.
“Our two competitors, one from South Korea and one based in California, develop their [own] products,” Wei said.
“TSMC does not develop [its own] products. We do not compete with you,” he told customers.
Samsung and Intel Corp are competing with TSMC to vie for a bigger market share and technology leadership.
SILICON ISLAND: When asked about geopolitical tensions, Lisa Su said that ‘Taiwan is absolutely critical to the semiconductor supply chain, and very, very critical for AMD’ Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) yesterday said the company plans to “substantially” increase manufacturing capacity next year through its Taiwanese supply chain, particularly with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), as surging demand for artificial intelligence (AI)-related processors continues to outstrip supply. “It is a very exciting time right now for all kinds of compute, and especially on the CPU [central processing unit] side,” Su said during a visit to Taiwan. “The overall market has increased a lot in 2026, and so we have also increased our own supply and capacity in 2026, but I can
INDUSTRY STANDARD: Most global semiconductor companies have tied employee bonuses directly to corporate profits, the union said, urging Micron to do the same Micron Memory Taiwan Co’s (台灣美光) Taoyuan union secured strike authorization yesterday after a six-day vote, ramping up pressure on management to build a reasonable profit-sharing mechanism. Before the strike, the Taoyuan union “encourages” members to join a protest in Taipei on Oct. 19, union chairman Jerry Lin (林哲瑞) told a news conference in Taipei. The union did not rule out staging a snap strike, Lin said. The union has 2,258 registered members, with 88.3 percent backing the strike, he said. The vote comes as Micron’s board of directors is meeting today and tomorrow in the US. The union expects the board to respond
Elon Musk said his business empire would build and operate Terafab independently, quashing speculation about industry leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) swooping in to run his ambitious chipmaking venture. Based in Texas, the Terafab project is Musk’s effort to break into the business of fabricating chips, in service of his companies Tesla Inc and SpaceXAI. While Musk had said that he was in discussions with TSMC, the trillionaire clarified in an X post yesterday that the only matter under consideration is for TSMC potentially leasing some part of the planned site and would not involve any operational role. “Maybe TSMC
INFRINGEMENT: The investigation comes after a complaint from Vicor Corp, with the company seeking a limited exclusion order as well as cease-and-desist orders, the ITA said The US International Trade Commission (USITC) has launched a Section 337 investigation naming Taiwanese technology companies, including Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海), Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), as respondents. The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) pledged assistance if needed. The USITC said on Friday in a statement that it had voted to institute an investigation under Section 337 of the US Tariff Act of 1930 into certain vertical power delivery systems, related components and computing devices incorporating such systems. The investigation covers 20 companies from Taiwan, China, Germany and the US, the commission said, adding that it
RSS