Yesterday, TSMC opened its new foundry in Nanjing, China. This plant will be the Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (Fab16), with an initial capacity of 10,000 pieces per month. It is expected to reach 15,000 pieces by the end of 2019 and reach 20,000 pieces by 2020.
At the ceremony, Mark Liu, Chairman of TSMC, and Lora Ho, Chairman of TSMC CFO and Nanjing Plant has very high expectations from the Nanjing foundry. We will definitely build TSMC Nanjing into a global operation of TSMC according to the expectations and plans of the founders. This is an important base that is indispensable, said the company representatives.
Gizchina News of the week
TSMC said that in May this year, it commenced the design for a 12-inch 16nm FinFET chip. According to reports, this Nanjing foundry will probably be highly involved in the mass production of this chip. In addition, TSMC’s Nanjing Design Service Center will also be available. The company hopes to drive the drive the development of the mainland integrated circuit industry. According to TSMC’s third-quarter earnings report released this month, mainland customers accounted for 16% of wafer revenue, but North American customers still accounted for 61%.
TSMC is well positioned to make so much revenue this last quarter and perhaps the first quarter of next year. As of now, it is the only company that has its 7nm chips in the market. Apple Bionic A12 and Huawei Kirin 980, both 7nm SoCs are from TSMC. With the 2018 iPhones already in the market as well as the Huawei Mate 20 series/Honor Magic 2, TSMC is well ahead of the likes of Samsung and Qualcomm in the 7nm technology.
