TSMC
Encyclopedia
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited or TSMC is the world's largest dedicated independent semiconductor
foundry
, with its headquarters and main operations located in the Hsinchu Science Park
in Hsinchu
, Taiwan
.
and solar energy-related industries. It is listed on both the Taiwan Stock Exchange
and the New York Stock Exchange
. Dr. Morris Chang
serves as Chairman and CEO
, while Dr. F.C. Tseng serves as Vice Chairman and Dr. Rick Tsai serves as President of New Businesses.
Although TSMC offers a variety of wafer product-lines (high-voltage, mixed-signal
, analog
), TSMC is best known for its logic chip product line. Various fabless high-tech companies such as Applied Micro Circuits Corporation
, Qualcomm
, Altera
, Broadcom
, Conexant
, Marvell
, NVIDIA
, and VIA
are customers of TSMC.
Some fab
-owning companies like Intel
also
outsource some production to TSMC. At least one semiconductor company, LSI Logic, re-sells TSMC wafers through its ASIC
design services and design IP
-portfolio.
TSMC's market capitalization
reached a high in December 2010, reaching a value of NT$
1.9 trillion (US$63.4 billion). In 2011, the company plans to increase research and development
expenditures by almost 39% to NT$
50 billion in an effort to fend off growing competition. The company also plans to expand capacity by 30% in 2011 to meet strong market demand.
On Friday, August 12, 2011, the partnership between TSMC and Apple was announced and TSMC has begun trial production the A6 chip for Apple's next-generation iPads and iPhones.
TSMC announced plans to invest US$9.4 billion to build its third 12-inch (300 mm) wafer fabrication facility in Central Taiwan Science Park (Fab 15), which will use advanced 40 and 20-nanometer technologies. It is expected to become operational by March 2012. The facility will output over 100,000 wafers a month and generate $5 billion per year of revenue. On January 12, 2011, TSMC announced the acquisition of land from Powerchip Semiconductor
for NT$2.9 billion (US$96 million) to build two additional 300 mm fabs to cope with increasing global demand. Further, TSMC has disclosed plans that it will build a 450-mm fab, which may begin its pilot lines 2013, and production as early as 2015.
, U.S.A. It is the largest pure-play foundry in the United States. The facility employs 1100 workers.
WaferTech was established in June 1996 as a joint venture with TSMC, Altera, Analog Devices
, and ISSI as key partners. The four companies along with minor individual investors invested US$1.2 billion dollars into this venture, which was at the time the single largest startup
investment in the state of Washington. The company started production in July 1998 in its 200 mm (8 inch) semiconductor fabrication plant. Its first product was a 0.35 micrometre part for Altera.
TSMC bought out the joint venture partners in 2000 and acquired full control, and currently operates it as a fully owned subsidiary.
WaferTech is based in Camas
, 20 miles (30 km) outside of Portland
, Oregon
. The WaferTech campus contains a 1 million square foot (90,000 m²) complex housed on 260 acres (1 km²). The main fabrication facility consists of a 130,000 square feet (12,000 m²) 200 mm (8 inch) wafer fabrication plant.
, ON
.
Semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...
foundry
Foundry (electronics)
In the microelectronics industry a semiconductor fabrication plant is a factory where devices such as integrated circuits are manufactured....
, with its headquarters and main operations located in the Hsinchu Science Park
Hsinchu Science Park
Hsinchu Science and Industrial Park is an industrial park established by the government of the Republic of China on December 15, 1980 with investment from the Kuomintang. It straddles Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County on the island of Taiwan....
in Hsinchu
Hsinchu
Hsinchu City is a city in northern Taiwan. Hsinchu is popularly nicknamed "The Windy City" for its windy climate.Hsinchu City is administered as a special municipality within Taiwan . The city is bordered by Hsinchu County to the north and east, Miaoli County to the south, and the Taiwan Strait...
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
.
Overview
Founded in 1987, TSMC is the world's first dedicated semiconductor foundry. In addition to semiconductors, the company has also begun investing in lightingLighting
Lighting or illumination is the deliberate application of light to achieve some practical or aesthetic effect. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources such as lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight...
and solar energy-related industries. It is listed on both the Taiwan Stock Exchange
Taiwan Stock Exchange
The Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation is a financial institution, located in Taipei 101, in Taipei, Taiwan. The TSEC was established in 1961 and began operating as a stock exchange on 9 February 1962...
and the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
. Dr. Morris Chang
Morris Chang
Morris Chang , is the founding Chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. in 1987. TSMC pioneered the "dedicated silicon foundry" industry and is the largest silicon foundry in the world. Morris is known as the father of Taiwan's chip industry.Chang was born in Ningbo, Zhejiang...
serves as Chairman and CEO
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
, while Dr. F.C. Tseng serves as Vice Chairman and Dr. Rick Tsai serves as President of New Businesses.
Although TSMC offers a variety of wafer product-lines (high-voltage, mixed-signal
Mixed-signal integrated circuit
A mixed-signal integrated circuit is any integrated circuit that has both analog circuits and digital circuits on a single semiconductor die.- Examples :...
, analog
Analogue electronics
Analogue electronics are electronic systems with a continuously variable signal, in contrast to digital electronics where signals usually take only two different levels. The term "analogue" describes the proportional relationship between a signal and a voltage or current that represents the signal...
), TSMC is best known for its logic chip product line. Various fabless high-tech companies such as Applied Micro Circuits Corporation
Applied Micro Circuits Corporation
Applied Micro Circuits Corporation is a fabless semiconductor company designing network and embedded Power Architecture , and server processor ARM , optical transport and storage solutions...
, Qualcomm
Qualcomm
Qualcomm is an American global telecommunication corporation that designs, manufactures and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services based on its code division multiple access technology and other technologies. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, USA...
, Altera
Altera
Altera Corporation is a Silicon Valley manufacturer of PLDs . The company offered its first programmable logic device in 1984. PLDs can be reprogrammed during the design cycle as well as in the field to perform multiple functions, and they support a fairly fast design process...
, Broadcom
Broadcom
Broadcom Corporation is a fabless semiconductor company in the wireless and broadband communication business. The company is headquartered in Irvine, California, USA. Broadcom was founded by a professor-student pair Henry Samueli and Henry T. Nicholas III from the University of California, Los...
, Conexant
Conexant
Conexant Systems, Inc. is an American semiconductor company, formerly the semiconductor division of Rockwell International. Currently it's privately owned by Golden Gate Capital, an equity firm headquartered in San Francisco.-History:...
, Marvell
Marvell Technology Group
Marvell is an American producer of storage, communications and consumer semiconductor products.Founded in 1995, Marvell Technology Group Ltd. has operations worldwide and approximately 5,700 employees. Marvell’s U.S. operating subsidiary is based in Santa Clara, California and Marvell has...
, NVIDIA
NVIDIA
Nvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...
, and VIA
VIA Technologies
VIA Technologies is a Taiwanese manufacturer of integrated circuits, mainly motherboard chipsets, CPUs, and memory, and is part of the Formosa Plastics Group. It is the world's largest independent manufacturer of motherboard chipsets...
are customers of TSMC.
Some fab
Semiconductor fabrication
Semiconductor device fabrication is the process used to create the integrated circuits that are present in everyday electrical and electronic devices. It is a multiple-step sequence of photolithographic and chemical processing steps during which electronic circuits are gradually created on a wafer...
-owning companies like Intel
Intel Corporation
Intel Corporation is an American multinational semiconductor chip maker corporation headquartered in Santa Clara, California, United States and the world's largest semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue. It is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most...
also
outsource some production to TSMC. At least one semiconductor company, LSI Logic, re-sells TSMC wafers through its ASIC
ASIC
ASIC may refer to:* Application-specific integrated circuit, an integrated circuit developed for a particular use, as opposed to a customised general-purpose device.* ASIC programming language, a dialect of BASIC...
design services and design IP
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
-portfolio.
TSMC's market capitalization
Market capitalization
Market capitalization is a measurement of the value of the ownership interest that shareholders hold in a business enterprise. It is equal to the share price times the number of shares outstanding of a publicly traded company...
reached a high in December 2010, reaching a value of NT$
New Taiwan dollar
The New Taiwan dollar , or simply Taiwan dollar, is the official currency of the Taiwan Area of the Republic of China since 1949, when it replaced the Old Taiwan dollar...
1.9 trillion (US$63.4 billion). In 2011, the company plans to increase research and development
Research and development
The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...
expenditures by almost 39% to NT$
New Taiwan dollar
The New Taiwan dollar , or simply Taiwan dollar, is the official currency of the Taiwan Area of the Republic of China since 1949, when it replaced the Old Taiwan dollar...
50 billion in an effort to fend off growing competition. The company also plans to expand capacity by 30% in 2011 to meet strong market demand.
On Friday, August 12, 2011, the partnership between TSMC and Apple was announced and TSMC has begun trial production the A6 chip for Apple's next-generation iPads and iPhones.
Facilities
- One 150 mm (6 inches) waferWafer (electronics)A wafer is a thin slice of semiconductor material, such as a silicon crystal, used in the fabrication of integrated circuits and other microdevices...
fab in full operation (Fab 2) - Four 200 mm (8 inches) wafer fabs in full operation (Fabs 3, 5, 6, 8)
- Two 300 mm (12 inches) wafer fabs in production (Fabs 12, 14)
- TSMC (Shanghai)
- WaferTech, TSMC's wholly owned subsidiary 200 mm (8 inches) fab in Camas, WashingtonCamas, WashingtonCamas is a city in Clark County, Washington, with a population of 19,355 at the 2010 census. Officially incorporated on June 18, 1906, the city is named after the camas lily, a plant with an onion-like bulb prized by Native Americans. At the west end of downtown Camas is a large Georgia-Pacific...
, USA - SSMCSSMCSystems on Silicon Manufacturing Co. Pte. Ltd. is presently a joint venture of NXP Semiconductors and TSMC. It was originally founded by Philips, TSMC and the Economic Development Board Investments Pte Ltd. .SSMC currently based in Singapore...
(Systems on Silicon Manufacturing Co.), a joint ventureJoint ventureA joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...
with NXP Semiconductors in SingaporeSingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
which has also brought increased capacity since the end of 2002
TSMC announced plans to invest US$9.4 billion to build its third 12-inch (300 mm) wafer fabrication facility in Central Taiwan Science Park (Fab 15), which will use advanced 40 and 20-nanometer technologies. It is expected to become operational by March 2012. The facility will output over 100,000 wafers a month and generate $5 billion per year of revenue. On January 12, 2011, TSMC announced the acquisition of land from Powerchip Semiconductor
Powerchip Semiconductor
Powerchip Technology Corporation is a maker of memory chips and also provides foundry services to the customers.Powerchip was incorporated in 1994 at Hsinchu Science Park in Taiwan. The company became a publicly listed company on the Taiwan GreTai Securities market, or the GTSM...
for NT$2.9 billion (US$96 million) to build two additional 300 mm fabs to cope with increasing global demand. Further, TSMC has disclosed plans that it will build a 450-mm fab, which may begin its pilot lines 2013, and production as early as 2015.
WaferTech subsidiary
WaferTech, a subsidiary of TSMC, is a pure-play semiconductor foundry located in Camas, WashingtonCamas, Washington
Camas is a city in Clark County, Washington, with a population of 19,355 at the 2010 census. Officially incorporated on June 18, 1906, the city is named after the camas lily, a plant with an onion-like bulb prized by Native Americans. At the west end of downtown Camas is a large Georgia-Pacific...
, U.S.A. It is the largest pure-play foundry in the United States. The facility employs 1100 workers.
WaferTech was established in June 1996 as a joint venture with TSMC, Altera, Analog Devices
Analog Devices
Analog Devices, Inc. , known as ADI, is an American multinational semiconductor company specializing in data conversion and signal conditioning technology, headquartered in Norwood, Massachusetts...
, and ISSI as key partners. The four companies along with minor individual investors invested US$1.2 billion dollars into this venture, which was at the time the single largest startup
Startup company
A startup company or startup is a company with a limited operating history. These companies, generally newly created, are in a phase of development and research for markets...
investment in the state of Washington. The company started production in July 1998 in its 200 mm (8 inch) semiconductor fabrication plant. Its first product was a 0.35 micrometre part for Altera.
TSMC bought out the joint venture partners in 2000 and acquired full control, and currently operates it as a fully owned subsidiary.
WaferTech is based in Camas
Camas, Washington
Camas is a city in Clark County, Washington, with a population of 19,355 at the 2010 census. Officially incorporated on June 18, 1906, the city is named after the camas lily, a plant with an onion-like bulb prized by Native Americans. At the west end of downtown Camas is a large Georgia-Pacific...
, 20 miles (30 km) outside of Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. The WaferTech campus contains a 1 million square foot (90,000 m²) complex housed on 260 acres (1 km²). The main fabrication facility consists of a 130,000 square feet (12,000 m²) 200 mm (8 inch) wafer fabrication plant.
TSMC Design Technology Canada
TSMC Design Technology Canada has been a part of the TSMC family since August 1, 2007. It is Located at 349 Terry Fox Drive, KanataKanata, Ontario
Situated in the Ottawa Valley, Kanata is located about west-southwest of Downtown Ottawa along Highway 417 at a latitude of 45°18' North and a longitude of 75°55' West, with an area of . Its northern end is just to the west of the Ottawa River....
, ON
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
.
See also
- Very-large-scale integrationVery-large-scale integrationVery-large-scale integration is the process of creating integrated circuits by combining thousands of transistors into a single chip. VLSI began in the 1970s when complex semiconductor and communication technologies were being developed. The microprocessor is a VLSI device.The first semiconductor...
- List of companies in Taiwan
- United Microelectronics CorporationUnited Microelectronics CorporationUMC was founded as Taiwan's first semiconductor company in 1980 as a spin-off of the government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute .-Overview:...
- GlobalFoundriesGLOBALFOUNDRIESGlobalFoundries Inc. is the world's third largest independent semiconductor foundry, with its headquarters located in Milpitas, California. GlobalFoundries was created by the divestiture of the manufacturing side of AMD on March 2, 2009, and was expanded through its merger with Chartered...
- List of Semiconductor Fabrication Plants