Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to grow its revenue by about 25 percent to a new record high next year, driven by robust demand for advanced technologies used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications and crypto mining, International Data Corp (IDC) said yesterday.
That would see TSMC secure a 67 percent share of the world’s foundry market next year, from 64 percent this year, IDC senior semiconductor research manager Galen Zeng (曾冠瑋) predicted. In the broader foundry definition, TSMC would see its market share rise to 36 percent next year from 33 percent this year, he said.
To address concerns about its market dominance, TSMC in July created a new definition of the foundry market, called Foundry 2.0, which includes chip packaging, testing, mask making and all integrated device manufacturers (IDM) such as Intel Corp, but excludes memorychip makers.
Photo: Cheng I-hwa, AFP
“TSMC will continue to dominate the foundry market either by the definition of Foundry 1.0 or Foundry 2.0,” Zeng said.
TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is fast-tracking production of 3-nanometer, 4-nanometer and 5-nanometer chips to catch up with customers’ demand by performing “super-hot-run” production cycle, the shortest production cycle adopted for rush orders, Zeng said, adding that the utilization rate of those technology nodes stood at more than 95 percent.
The Hsinchu-based chipmaker is to add 70,000 advanced wafers a month next year to existing capacity for 2-nanometer, 3-nanometer, 4-nanometer and 5-nanometer chips, he said.
TSMC is also expected to double its capacity of advanced packaging technology, or chip-on-wafer-on-silicon (CoWoS), mostly used in AI chips for Nvidia Corp, to 660,000 units next year, from 330,000 units this year, Zeng said.
Even so, its CoWoS capacity would remain insufficient next year, he said.
IDC also projects the world’s semiconductor industry would expand 15 percent in production value to US$782 billion, while the global foundry segment would grow 20 percent next year, he said.
Samsung Electronics Inc is expected to ramp up production of 2-nanometer technology next year, IDC said. Samsung’s move would be earlier than TSMC by half to one quarter, but the company has to address the issue of its low yield rate, it said.
TSMC is expected to enter volume production of 2-nanometer technology in the second half of next year, with a small volume shipped to Apple Inc at the end of the year or early 2026, IDC said.
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
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