Falling demand for hardware hits TSMC as Nvidia, AMD, others slash orders
Economic downturn finally catches up to TSMC
Tsmc articles
TSMC set to begin mass production of 3nm chips
Apple to get first dibs on 2023 TSMC 3nm wafers
Explainer: What is Chip Binning?
#TBT You just bought a new CPU and it seems to run cool, so you try a bit of overclocking. The GHz climbs higher. Did you hit the silicon jackpot? You've got yourself a binned chip. But what's that exactly?
Russia can't obtain its 'domestic' CPUs from foreign manufacturers
Producers of Elbrus and Baikal chips are refusing to ship them
How did TSMC get so good?
There is no simple answer, but we think there are a few factors that really stand out...
The big picture: By now, we are all familiar with the fact that TSMC is, by far, the most capable semiconductor manufacturer in the world, with all the entails for the industry and geopolitics. And as this reality sets in, many people have been asking us how did they get so good?
CPU and GPU SRAM caches are not shrinking, which could increase chip cost or reduce performance
Why it matters: An interesting article posted at WikiChip discusses the severity of SRAM shrinkage problems in the semiconductor industry. Manufacturer TSMC is reporting that its SRAM transistor scaling has completely flatlined to the point where SRAM caches are staying the same size on multiple nodes, despite logic transistor densities continuing to shrink. This is not ideal, and it will force processor SRAM caches to take up more space on a microchip die. This in turn could increase manufacturing costs of the chips and prevent certain microchip architectures from becoming as small as they could potentially be.
Chinese newspaper claims the US "tricked" TSMC into building Arizona fabs, is stealing tech from "our Taiwan"
The US is compared to a bull in a China shop
TSMC will pour $40 billion into two Arizona chip fabs
Forward-looking: Taiwanese giant TSMC has officially confirmed it will build an additional fab for chip manufacturing in the US. The Arizona site will grow, the investment will skyrocket and the number of newly-created jobs will make politicians very, very happy.
TSMC's 2024 Arizona fab to upgrade from 5nm to 4nm after Apple's request
The big picture: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's (TSMC) Arizona factory project has become more apparent over the last few weeks. The company intends to move some of the most advanced node processing to the United States, much of it for Apple's iPhones. The company will soon announce an upgrade to its plans.
Samsung will manufacture 3nm chips for Nvidia, Baidu, Qualcomm and IBM
In context: Samsung will use its most advanced manufacturing process to make chips for four well-known technology companies. The race to overtake TSMC as the world's largest chip foundry is on, while geopolitical conflicts are tearing the old economic balance apart.
TSMC reportedly plans to raise 3nm wafer prices 25 percent over 5nm to $20,000
Wafer costs could keep driving component and electronic prices upward
TSMC founder: a new 3nm manufacturing plant in Arizona has already been planned
Forward-looking: TSMC is planning a second manufacturing plant in Arizona, a move that will bring the upcoming 3nm manufacturing process to the US. The facility could allow Apple to start making iPhones in the US but prices would go up. A lot.
Apple set to purchase chips from TSMC Arizona plant as it lessens reliance on Asia
The plant will be operational in 2024
TSMC hoping to move 3nm production to US, now starting work towards 1nm
The big picture: It's been an eventful few months in the processing industry, with tech companies releasing new products left and right. The influx of devices isn't stopping, as TSMC has plans to relocate 3nm development to the United States, and that's not the only news.
TSMC will localize some neon production to secure the global supply
Ukraine produced half the world's supply before the Russian invasion
TSMC and industry partners form 3DFabric Alliance focused on advancing chiplet architectures
The group will focus on advancing the future of 3D silicon stacking design, capability, and adoption
Nvidia is allegedly moving production of RTX 4090 GPUs to Hopper H100 GPUs
Potentially making the RTX 4090 even harder to find
TSMC chairman warns of "serious challenges" to semiconductor industry posed by China tensions
TSMC is caught between the US, Taiwan, and China
Taiwan says destroying TSMC in the event of a Chinese invasion is unnecessary
"Even if China got a hold of the golden hen, it won't be able to lay golden eggs"
In context: Once again, rising tensions between China and the US have put the spotlight on Taiwan and what would happen to TSMC, which manufactures more than half the world's semiconductors, in the event of an invasion. One proposal is to destroy the company's facilities, but the island's security chief said such a move is unnecessary.
Apple reluctantly agrees to TSMC's price increases
In context: TSMC is one of the largest processor manufacturers in the world, creating chips and wafers for many companies, including AMD, Nvidia, and Apple. As one of TSMC's biggest customers, Apple was not happy following an announcement that TSMC would increase prices in 2023.
AMD CEO plans to negotiate 2nm & 3nm chip supplies with TSMC soon
Something to look forward to: As the new Ryzen 7000 series processors reach store shelves, with RDNA 3 right behind it, AMD has fully adopted 5nm processors for their products. However, the company doesn't plan on staying at 5nm for long. Team Red intends to meet with TSMC to negotiate future 2nm and 3nm chip supplies.
TSMC: Shortage of inexpensive chips, ranging from $0.50 to $10, is bottlenecking the supply chain
Not enough $0.50 chips is impacting entire industries
There is TSMC and there's everybody else, can Samsung or Intel catch up?
The leading edge of semiconductor manufacturing
TSMC chairman says "nobody can control TSMC by force" as tensions between the US and China escalate
"If they need us, it's not a bad thing"