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Does anyone have any comment on Intel and why they would use TSM as a fab for their products? Is TSM getting the upper hand in fab? Also, does anyone have
insights on the Micron/Intel relationship on 3dXpoint memory? Is Intel going through a fundamental change or is TSM cementing a position of dominance in fab?
It seems to me the industry is going to start going through fundamental shifts as semi technology gets applied to other areas like display, mems, leds, solar and other areas that are below the radar. Semi technology it looks like it is more and more transferring into Nano technology fabrication as it expands into far more diverse areas with the ability to lower cost dramatically as it has done in numerous other areas. I think we are on the cusp of major changes in the industry as it becomes a key part of the "Great Acceleration". Comments and thoughts of all angles welcome.
Morris Chang did state mems are one of the greatest opportunities before us and this is a VERY broad area.
I have not heard of anything recently. Intel is a customer of TSMC due to acquisitions, most of which used ARM cores. I do remember a ways back when Intel and TSMC partnered to manufacture Atom based chips but it went nowhere. This was 2009/2010.
It really is strange to me when two companies fiercely compete on one side then work "closely" on the other. Intel/TSMC, Apple/Samsung, etc... "Business is business" I guess.
It really is strange to me when two companies fiercely compete on one side then work "closely" on the other. Intel/TSMC, Apple/Samsung, etc... "Business is business" I guess.
I think Intel/TSMC relationship is more close to a vendor/supplier relationship and this kind of relationship exists in every industry everywhere.
Assume there're ten bakeries in Houston. They have their own manufacturing facilities and compete against each other fiercely. Due to cost and efficiency consideration, they all buy certain style of doughnuts and bread made by a factory called SuperB. At the same time SuperB doesn't have a product under their own name and only makes products for those bakeries.
If SuperB keeps upgrading its equipment and increasing daily output capacity to the degree that some of those SuperB's production lines are so much better than those ten bakeries have. Can those bakeries call SuperB a competitor? IMHO, probably not.
I think Intel/TSMC relationship is more close to a vendor/supplier relationship and this kind of relationship exists in every industry everywhere.
Assume there're ten bakeries in Houston. They have their own manufacturing facilities and compete against each other fiercely. Due to cost and efficiency consideration, they all buy certain style of doughnuts and bread made by a factory called SuperB. At the same time SuperB doesn't have a product under their own name and only makes products for those bakeries.
If SuperB keeps upgrading its equipment and increasing daily output capacity to the degree that some of those SuperB's production lines are so much better than those ten bakeries have. Can those bakeries call SuperB a competitor? IMHO, probably not.
I completely agree, down to 28nm. FinFETs however are much more complicated and the level of competition in the SoC business (for example) requires very intimate collaboration at the process level. How do you compete directly with Apple when TSMC is customizing processes for them? That is the real reason why QCOM left TSMC for the 820. They needed a process differentiation and Samsung gave it to them. My opinion.
I've read so much, I don't remember the source, but it was in my daily reading of one of the following MIT TR, Forbes, Bloomberg, Barron's, Economist, Popular Science, Gizmag, Popular Mechanics.
Infineon Mobile used TSMC as its fab. When Intel acquired Infineon's Mobile Arm business, TSMC continued to make their chips. Other than TSMC's proficiency and relationship with ARM parts, is there some technological and/or cost advantage TSMC has over Intel relative to Infineon/Intel modems? As Intel progresses with integration of mobile SOC components, will TSMC continue to get their mobile business?
