Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) expects steady growth this year despite global economic uncertainty due to continued momentum from tech trends such as 5G, artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) applications.
In the company’s annual shareholders’ report released on Thursday, TSMC chairman and CEO C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said the company is well-positioned to meet market demand with its differentiated technology platforms.
The company’s 2-nanometer process is on track for volume production in the second half of this year, while its next-generation nanosheet-based A16 process, aimed at HPC applications, is scheduled for mass production late next year, Wei said.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuter
Advanced technologies — defined as 7-nanometer and smaller — are projected to contribute up to 80 percent of total wafer revenue this year, up from 69 percent last year, the report said.
Wei emphasized the pivotal role of AI, predicting a continued surge in structural demand as devices and systems become increasingly intelligent and interconnected.
“We are entering an AI-empowered world, where artificial intelligence not only runs in data centers, but will run in PCs, smartphones, automobiles, and even Internet of Things devices in the future,” he said.
AI also comes in many forms, including but not limited to generative AI applications such as ChatGPT, which consumers have become familiar with thanks to its ease of use and expansive range of potential applications, he said.
“As a direct user of AI in our fab and research and development operations, we are deriving tangible return on investment benefits from our investments in AI and machine learning,” he said.
Because of the timing and focus of this year’s annual report, neither Wei’s comments nor the report as a whole delved deeply into US President Donald Trump’s controversial tariff policies.
Trump announced tariffs on goods imported from countries around the world on April 2, including a blanket 32 percent tariff on Taiwan.
He on April 9 paused the tariffs for 90 days, although he kept a base 10 percent tariff in place for most countries other than China, while exempting semiconductors.
“Any tariffs imposed on imports of semiconductors and products incorporating chips into the United States may result in increased costs for purchasing such products, which may, in turn, lead to decreased demand for TSMC’s products and services and adversely affect its business and future growth,” the report said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, booked its first-ever profit from its Arizona subsidiary in the first half of this year, four years after operations began, a company financial statement showed. Wholly owned by TSMC, the Arizona unit contributed NT$4.52 billion (US$150.1 million) in net profit, compared with a loss of NT$4.34 billion a year earlier, the statement showed. The company attributed the turnaround to strong market demand and high factory utilization. The Arizona unit counts Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc among its major customers. The firm’s first fab in Arizona began high-volume production
VOTE OF CONFIDENCE: The Japanese company is adding Intel to an investment portfolio that includes artificial intelligence linchpins Nvidia Corp and TSMC Softbank Group Corp agreed to buy US$2 billion of Intel Corp stock, a surprise deal to shore up a struggling US name while boosting its own chip ambitions. The Japanese company, which is adding Intel to an investment portfolio that includes artificial intelligence (AI) linchpins Nvidia Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), is to pay US$23 a share — a small discount to Intel’s last close. Shares of the US chipmaker, which would issue new stock to Softbank, surged more than 5 percent in after-hours trading. Softbank’s stock fell as much as 5.4 percent on Tuesday in Tokyo, its
The prices of gasoline and diesel at domestic fuel stations are to rise NT$0.1 and NT$0.4 per liter this week respectively, after international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to rise to NT$27.3, NT$28.8 and NT$30.8 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to rise to NT$26.2 per liter at CPC stations and NT$26 at Formosa pumps, they said. The announcements came after international crude oil prices
SETBACK: Apple’s India iPhone push has been disrupted after Foxconn recalled hundreds of Chinese engineers, amid Beijing’s attempts to curb tech transfers Apple Inc assembly partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has recalled about 300 Chinese engineers from a factory in India, the latest setback for the iPhone maker’s push to rapidly expand in the country. The extraction of Chinese workers from the factory of Yuzhan Technology (India) Private Ltd, a Hon Hai component unit, in southern Tamil Nadu state, is the second such move in a few months. The company has started flying in Taiwanese engineers to replace staff leaving, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named, as the
RSS