TSMC is moving full steam ahead. At the end of last December, this Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer began large-scale manufacturing of chips at its 3nm node (N3B). Morris Chang and Mark Liu, who are the founder and president of this company respectively, had promised that before the end of 2022 they would start mass-producing 3 nm integrated circuitsand they have fulfilled it.
According to Liu Deyin, who is the CEO of this company, this integration technology has allowed them to increase the logic density by 60% compared to 5nm lithography, as well as reduce power consumption by up to 35% maintaining the same performance. On paper it looks good, but, despite everything, it seems that the numbers do not add up to TSMC. At least not at all.
The investment that semiconductor manufacturers are forced to face each time they change lithographic equipment in a plant to develop their integration technology is enormous. In fact, the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photolithography kits that ASML produces for the 3nm nodes cost between 150 and 200 million dollars depending on your setup. Each one of them. TSMC clearly needs to make this investment profitable, and may be forced to take short-term steps to do so.
Makes sense: lowering prices will help TSMC attract customers (beyond Apple)
If the river makes a noise its because water is running. This saying is very hackneyed, but on many occasions it is true to the letter, and this seems to be one of them. Some Asian media and organizations, such as MyDrivers or China Renaissance, defend that TSMC is considering reducing the price of the wafers it is producing at its N3B node. According to MyDrivers, a 12-inch wafer with 3nm chips is priced at just over $20,000, and few TSMC customers seem willing to bear the cost.
A 12-inch wafer with 3nm chips costs more than $20,000, and few TSMC customers seem willing to bear the cost.
In fact, these same media ensure that for the moment the only client that has committed to TSMC to use this lithograph is Apple. And, if so, it is reasonable to accept that this node in the short term may be underutilized, so this chipmaker could take longer than initially predicted to make the investment profitable. In fact, the voices being raised in China and Taiwan go even further. Much further away.
And it is that they assure that AMD, NVIDIA, Qualcomm and MediaTek, which are some of TSMC’s best clients, are not willing to pay the cost per wafer that this semiconductor manufacturer is asking for, so presumably they will not bet on this lithography until 2024. Given the circumstances, TSMC would have no choice but to lower the price. And it seems that it is just what he is considering doing.
Right now it would be rash to predict that if TSMC finally lowers the price, the final consumer will benefit. It is not at all clear that your clients will pass these savings on to users, but, of course, this measure does not harm us. In fact, if we bear in mind that the PC and smartphone market is in free fall, and that, furthermore, it seems that the crisis will not subside in 2023Who knows, maybe electronics manufacturers will eventually be forced to tighten their belts and moderate prices. So yes, we can scan the horizon with some optimism.
Cover image: ASML
Via: MyDrivers
