TSMC's revenue has hit a record high for ten consecutive years. Here's the key

Latest update time：2020-03-02

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Source: Content from " China Business Times ", thank you.

TSMC's consolidated revenue in 2019 reached US$36.432 billion. Although it only grew slightly by 1.3% over the previous year, it was the 10th consecutive time that its annual revenue set a new record. The key lies in their continued introduction of advanced processes ahead of their competitors.

According to the IC Insights report, TSMC's revenue contribution per wafer increased by 13% in the past five years from 2014 to 2019 due to the mass production of advanced processes, and it was the only company that saw an increase in revenue contribution per wafer during this period.

For this year, TSMC will start mass production of its 5nm process in the second quarter, which will also become the main driving force for the company's revenue to continue to hit record highs this year.

As for other wafer foundries such as GlobalFoundries, UMC, and SMIC, although they have successfully invested in 12/14nm processes, the revenue contribution per wafer has declined between 2014 and 2019 due to the slowdown in the advancement of advanced processes. GlobalFoundries' revenue contribution per wafer decreased by 2% in these five years, UMC decreased by 14%, and SMIC decreased by 19%.

In the pure-play foundry market, advanced processes bring more revenue and profit contributions to the industry. For example, TSMC was the only pure-play foundry in the world that mass-produced 7-nanometer chips in 2019, allowing many IC design companies to use advanced processes to produce newer chips.

Market research points out that the advanced process of semiconductor factories provides the market with high-performance or more functional chips, and effectively reduces the cost of chip production, allowing many applications to achieve economies of scale and be implemented in the market faster. In 2019, Intel's 10nm has entered mass production, TSMC's 7+nm supporting extreme ultraviolet (EUV) has entered mass production, and Samsung has also mass produced 7nm and 6nm supporting EUV technology. After 2020, TSMC and Samsung will accelerate the mass production of 5nm and 6nm processes supporting EUV, and Intel will mass produce the enhanced 10+nm process.

Although different semiconductor manufacturers use different advanced processes, the advancement of advanced processes is no longer a transition to the next generation every 2-3 years, but a continuous introduction of enhanced processes to meet different needs. For example, by 2021, Intel will launch a 10++ nanometer process and mass produce the 7 nanometer process supporting EUV technology for the first time, TSMC will launch an enhanced 5+ nanometer process, and Samsung's 4 nanometer process can be seen as an enhanced version of its 5 nanometer process.

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