When Morris Chang left Texas Instruments in 1983 to found TSMC, he was not merely starting a new company—he was proposing a new industrial logic. Chang recognized that semiconductor manufacturing had become so capital-intensive that it could no longer survive as just one function inside a vertically integrated company.… Read More
How the Father of FinFETs Helped Save Moore’s Law
In the early 2000s, Moore’s Law—the observation that the number of transistors on a chip doubles roughly every two years—was facing an existential crisis. As semiconductor nodes shrank below 90nm, planar transistors suffered from debilitating issues: leakage currents soared, power efficiency plummeted, and scaling became… Read More
Should Intel be Split in Half?
A recent commentary from four former Intel board members argue that Intel should be split into two separate companies with separate CEOs and separate board of directors. Charlene Barshefsky, Reed Hundt, James Plummer, and David Yoffie wrote that Intel shareholders should insist on a split which would create a new, independent,… Read More
Alchip’s Technology and Global Talent Strategy Deliver Record Growth
Alchip Technologies Ltd., a global leader in high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) ASIC design and production services, continues its trajectory of rapid growth and technical leadership by pushing the boundaries of advanced-node silicon, expanding its global design capabilities, and building… Read More
Intel’s Foundry Transformation: Technology, Culture, and Collaboration
Intel’s historical dominance in semiconductor process technology began to erode around 2018, as competitors started delivering higher performance at smaller nodes. In response, Intel is now doubling down on innovation across two fronts: advanced process nodes such as Intel 18A and 14A, and cutting-edge packaging technologies.… Read More
Intel’s Path to Technological Leadership: Transforming Foundry Services and Embracing AI
Intel, long a leader in semiconductor manufacturing, is on a determined journey to reclaim its technological leadership in the industry. After facing significant challenges in recent years, the company is making a concerted effort to adapt and innovate, with a clear focus on AI-driven technologies, advanced packaging solutions,… Read More
Gate Resistance in IC design flow
MOSFET gate resistance is a very important parameter, determining many characteristics of MOSFETs and CMOS circuits, such as:
• Switching speed
• RC delay
• Fmax – maximum frequency of oscillations
• Gate (thermal) noise
• Series resistance and quality factor in MOS capacitors and varactors
• Switching speed and uniformity… Read More
TSMC 2023 North America Technology Symposium Overview Part 2
The next topic I would like to cover is an update to the TSMC process node roadmap starting with N3. As predicted, N3 will be the most successful node in the TSMC FinFET family. The first version of N3 went into production at the end of last year (Apple) and will roll out with other customers in 2023. There is a reported record amount of … Read More
Achieving 400W Thermal Envelope for AI Datacenter SoCs
Successful ASIC providers offer top-notch infrastructure and methodologies that can accommodate varied demands from a multitude of customers. Such ASIC providers also need access to best-in-class IP portfolio, advanced packaging and test capabilities, and heterogeneous chiplet integration capability among other things.… Read More
Intel Lands Top TSMC Customer
Most people will be surprised by this but after working in Taiwan for many years I quite expected it. Intel Announced that MediaTek will use Intel Foundry Services for FinFET based smart edge device chips. MediaTek will start with Intel 16nm technology which originated from the legendary 22nm, the first commercial FinFET process.… Read More


The Risk of Not Optimizing Clock Power