TSMC recently held their 10th annual Open Innovation Platform (OIP) Ecosystem forum. The talks included a technology and design enablement update from TSMC, as well as specific presentations from OIP partners on the results of recent collaborations with TSMC. This article summarizes the highlights of the TSMC keynote from… Read More
TSMC Arizona Fab Cost Revisited
Back in May of 2020 I published some comparisons of the cost to run a TSMC fab in Arizona versus their fabs in Taiwan. I found the fab operating cost based on the country-to-country difference to only be 3.4% higher in the US and then I found an additional 3.8% because of the smaller fab scale. Since that time, I have continued to encounter… Read More
ASML is the key to Intel’s Resurrection Just like ASML helped TSMC beat Intel
-Intel’s access to high-NA EUV tools may be their elixir of life
-TSMC’s EUV adoption helped it vault faltering Intel & Samsung
-Maybe ASML should invest in Intel like Intel invested in ASML
-Shoe is on the other foot- But cooperation helps chip industry
Intel is dependent upon ASML for its entire future
If Intel… Read More
The Arm China Debacle and TSMC
Having spent 40 years in the semiconductor industry, many years working with Arm and even publishing the definitive history book “Mobile Unleashed: The Origin and Evolution of ARM Processors in Our Devices” plus having spent more than 20 years working with China based companies, I found the recent Arm China media circus quite … Read More
TSMC Wafer Wars! Intel versus Apple!
The big fake news last week came from a report out of China stating that TSMC won a big Intel order for 3nm wafers. We have been talking about this for some time on SemiWiki so this is nothing new. Unfortunately, the article mentioned wafer and delivery date estimates that are unconfirmed and from what I know, completely out of line. … Read More
TSMC Explains the Fourth Era of Semiconductor – It’s All About Collaboration
The 32nd VLSI Design/CAD Symposium just occurred in a virtual setting. The theme of the event this year was “ICs Powering Smart Life Innovation”. There were many excellent presentations across analog & RF, EDA & testing, digital & system, and emerging technology. There were also some excellent keynotes, and this… Read More
TSMC Design Considerations for Gate-All-Around (GAA) Technology
The annual VLSI Symposium provides unique insights into R&D innovations in both circuits and technology. Indeed, the papers presented are divided into two main tracks – Circuits and Technology. In addition, the symposium offers workshops, forums, and short courses, providing a breadth of additional information.
At… Read More
Apple’s Orphan Silicon
Apple’s recent Spring Loaded Event brought us M1-based iMacs. After the MacBook Air and 13” MacBook Pro in the fall, iMacs are the third Mac to jettison Intel processors. With this transition Apple’s T2 chip enters End of Life status, so to speak. The T2 is a bit of an enigma and now it does not have much time left.
We know it performs… Read More
VLSI Symposium – TSMC and Imec on Advanced Process and Devices Technology Toward 2nm
At the 2021 Symposium on VLSI Technology and Circuits in June a short course was held on “Advanced Process and Devices Technology Toward 2nm-CMOS and Emerging Memory”. In this article I will review the first two presentations covering leading edge logic devices. The two presentations are complementary and provide and excellent… Read More
Semiconductor CapEx strong in 2021
Semiconductor manufacturers are expanding capital spending in 2021 and beyond to help alleviate shortages. In addition, many governments around the world are proposing funding to support semiconductor manufacturing in their countries.
The United States Senate this month approved a bill which includes $52 billion to fund… Read More