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.
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
The US said it plans to help build a first-of-its-kind industrial hub in the Philippines to boost production of inputs crucial to US supply chains. The 4,000-acre hub is intended to be “a purpose-built platform for allied manufacturing” and “an investment acceleration hub where the specific industrial activities are shaped by market demand,” the US Department of State said on Thursday. The project — touted as an “economic security zone” — would be within the Luzon Economic Corridor, a flagship economic project backed by the US and Japan on the main Philippine island. The project was also described as “the first artificial intelligence
RSS