Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday said it is optimistic about its business outlook over the next few years, benefiting from the uptake of artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
TSMC produces AI chips for a majority of AI chip designers from Nvidia Corp to Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), using its cutting-edge process technologies, including 3 nanometers, 4 nanometers and 5 nanometers.
“We are optimistic about AI. [Demand] is really hot. Besides, AI applications are just in its infancy. More and more AI applications will be used in our daily lives,” TSMC chief executive officer and new chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told a media briefing. “TSMC’s [business] outlook for the next few years will be very optimistic.”
Photo: CNA
TSMC’s board of directors yesterday tapped Wei to succeed Mark Liu (劉德音), who served as company chairman for the past six years.
Since there would be a wide spectrum of AI applications for different vertical industries, Wei said he could not agree more with Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) bullish view about AI growth, Wei said.
The AI market would swell to US$100 trillion, Huang estimated.
TSMC would be a major beneficiary of this AI boom, given its technology leadership, Wei said.
Because of its strong technological capabilities, TSMC occupies a “very advantageous position,” Wei said.
That means “no one can compete with us so far — and we intend to maintain such an advantageous position,” he added.
Asked about a South Korean media report that Samsung Electronics Co is catching up with TSMC and nibbling on its turf, Wei said his company has no rival so far and doubted the publication’s trustworthiness.
TSMC has overtaken Intel Corp in offering the world’s most advanced foundry technology since 2018, when it rolled out 7-nanometer process technology.
Since then, the Taiwanese company has safeguarded its technology leadership position. The chipmaker plans to start mass production of 2-nanometer chips next year, ahead of its competitors.
“Since we continue advancing our technology ahead of [competitors], they have to adopt our technology,” Wei said. “TSMC does not develop any technology only for certain products or certain industries.”
The company’s secret formula behind its long-term technology leadership is that TSMC is always making progress, Wei said. That is why TSMC has an advantage over its competitors, he said.
Asked whether customers have asked TSMC to relocate its production outside of Taiwan because of escalating tensions between Taiwan and China, Wei said: “It had been discussed.”
However, it would be impossible to move all of the company’s production abroad, as 80 to 90 percent of its manufacturing capacity is based in Taiwan, he said, adding that he believed there was little chance of war.
Talking about the company’s approach to selecting the next leader, Wei, 71, said the company is working on a succession mechanism to ensure the company operates smoothly.
Whoever succeeds him should share the company’s values of maintaining its technological leadership, expanding capacity and winning customers’ trust, Wei said.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS