The world's largest foundry, Taiwan's TSMC, is rapidly increasing its advanced process production capacity due to a surge in orders for artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors.
According to reports from Taiwan's Economic Daily and others, TSMC's wafer input for its 3-nanometer (nm) process is projected to reach 180,000 wafers per month by early the fourth quarter of this year. Wafer input refers to the number of raw wafers entering semiconductor production lines, serving as an indicator of factory production capacity.
This timeline for achieving the 180,000 wafers per month target has been moved up by 2 to 3 months from initial expectations of year-end. However, this figure is based on estimates from supply chain sources and has not been officially confirmed by TSMC. The company's 3-nanometer production capacity reportedly increased to around 150,000 wafers per month in the first half of this year.
The increase in orders from major clients such as NVIDIA, AMD, and Broadcom for AI and high-performance server semiconductors has driven this growth. To meet the rising demand, TSMC is converting some of its 5-nanometer equipment for use in the 3-nanometer process and is accelerating the expansion of its production facilities.
Production capacity for the next-generation 2-nanometer process is also expected to grow rapidly. Supply chain sources predict that monthly production capacity will increase from 50,000 to 60,000 wafers in the first half of this year to over 80,000 wafers by early the fourth quarter, nearing 100,000 wafers by year-end.
As a result, the combined production capacity for the 2-nanometer and 3-nanometer processes is expected to exceed 260,000 wafers per month by early the fourth quarter.
The share of advanced processes in TSMC's revenue is also increasing. In the second quarter of this year, the 3-nanometer and 2-nanometer processes accounted for 30% and 3% of total wafer revenue, respectively. The combined share of all advanced processes below 7 nanometers reached 77%.
To respond to the demand for AI semiconductors, TSMC has raised its capital expenditure forecast for this year from $52 billion to $56 billion to between $60 billion and $64 billion. The company plans to allocate 70% to 80% of its total investment to advanced process technologies.
TSMC Chairman Wei Zhejia stated, "Demand related to AI is expected to remain strong until 2029 to 2030."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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