Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) founder and chairman Morris Chang said at a recent company event that the pure-play foundry will start constructing its advanced 3nm wafer fab located at the Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) in 2020.
TSMC is confident that the Taiwan government will be committed to settling all the water, power and land supply issues prior to the construction of the foundry's 3nm fab, said Chang. TSMC also remains confident the government will assist the establishment of the new fab with a complete package of measures, Chang added.
Chang also talked about the importance of artificial intelligence (AI) to TSMC's competitiveness. There are already mobile devices featuring AI capabilities, and the technology is expected to be used widely, such as healthcare applications, where AI could make a significant impact, Chang indicated.
TSMC has been investing in AI for its target markets including mobile computing, automotive electronics, IoT and high-performance computing, Chang noted. TSMC is gearing up to provide advanced process technologies and sufficient production capacities for more AI applications, which will make a positive contribution to company growth in the future, Chang said.
In addition, Chang reiterated TSMC's forecast that the global market for logic semiconductors will increase about 6% in 2017. The market will grow another 4-5% annually in 2018 and 2019, Chang said.
For TSMC, the company expects to post revenue growth of 5-10% annually over the next three years, Chang said. The estimate is made based on TSMC's revenues in US dollars.
TSMC chairman Morris Chang
Photo: Shihmin Fu, Digitimes, November 2017
