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TSMC's stock price has been soaring for several consecutive days, reaching a new high of NT$466.5 on the 28th. The biggest "assist" was that the US semiconductor giant Intel revealed last week that its 7nm process was stuck, and CEO Bob Swan mentioned for the first time that the company was considering outsourcing the production of some products.
In fact, more than 30 years ago, when TSMC was first established, Intel, which was already the "leader" of the semiconductor industry at the time, helped TSMC. It was the first major customer after TSMC was founded and TSMC's long-term technology benchmark. It also laid the foundation for TSMC to win mainstream market customers in the future.
Unexpectedly, things change. More than 30 years later, TSMC has become the world's leading wafer foundry. Not only has its advanced process production progress surpassed major competitors such as Samsung and Intel, it may even become the savior that Intel most needs after its 7nm process is stuck.
One year after founding the company, Silicon Valley Godfather Andy Grove visited TSMC
In an interview published in the San Jose Mercury News in August 2011, TSMC founder Morris Chang revealed his first-hand encounter with Intel co-founder Andrew Grove, who is considered the godfather of Silicon Valley, in Taiwan.
“When I started my business, I actually had no competitors. We were just a small company in Taiwan at that time, and the (semiconductor industry) didn’t pay much attention to us. They thought we couldn’t make it.
We were founded in 1987, and later that year or in 1988, (then-Intel CEO) Grove came to Taiwan and decided to come and take a look at TSMC.”
"I showed him that (TSMC) has a good yield rate in 3-micron technology. Although it is still two and a half generations behind Intel and Texas Instruments, we can achieve a good yield rate. He was quite impressed and said, 'Perhaps Intel can use you.'"
"By the early 1990s, fabless companies were popping up like mushrooms after rain. They needed us, and we needed them."
According to an article jointly published in 2011 by Hong Shizhang, a professor at the Institute of Science and Technology Management of National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan, and Richard Whittington, a professor at the Business School of the University of Oxford in the UK, it was mentioned that in 1987, then-Intel CEO Andy Grove visited TSMC and, after an in-depth review of TSMC's technology, processes and production lines by Intel's engineering team, TSMC was certified, making Intel the first major customer of TSMC in 1988.
More than 20 years ago, Morris Chang asked, "When can we catch up with Intel?"
In May last year, former TSMC CEO and current MediaTek CEO Rick Tsai was awarded an honorary doctorate by his alma mater, National Chiao Tung University. In his speech, he mentioned that he remembered a meeting about 20 years ago in which "Chairman Chang asked the (TSMC) R&D department, 'When do you think we can catch up with Intel?'"
"Everyone was speechless at the time because Intel was the most technologically advanced competitor. However, if you have determination and hard work, you will have the opportunity to challenge the impossible. Now everyone should know that TSMC's process technology is on par with Intel."
The Nikkei reported recently that according to people familiar with the matter, there is a long-standing concept within TSMC, which is "Intel must never be underestimated," because for many years the global semiconductor industry has viewed Intel as an indicator of technological leadership.
Jiang Bofeng, an analyst at the Industrial Technology Research Institute's International Strategy Development Institute, recently showed a semiconductor technology advancement map of the world's major wafer foundries at the second half of the semiconductor industry outlook seminar. It showed that among the four major companies, Globalfoundries, Intel, Samsung and TSMC, TSMC offers the most options in advanced processes below 16 nanometers. As of the end of 2020, there are 10 processes for customers to choose from, ranging from 16 nanometers, 12 nanometers, 10 nanometers, 7 nanometers to 5 nanometers.
TSMC offers the most process options and strives to be the best in customer competition
In contrast, Samsung only had six process options during the same period, and Intel only had four; GlobalFoundries decided not to invest money in developing more advanced processes after 12 nanometers.
Jiang Bofeng analyzed that TSMC can provide so many processes so that various customers can choose the process that best suits their needs between cost (the more advanced the process, the more expensive) and efficiency. Therefore, TSMC's ability to win customers is second to none in the global foundry industry.
US-based foreign investment: Intel is at least two years behind TSMC
In 1988, TSMC, which had only been established for a year, won the favor of the "Martial Arts Overlord" Intel. Unexpectedly, 32 years later, Intel's semiconductor hegemony collapsed, and TSMC monopolized the vast majority of the world's advanced process wafer foundry market.
Mark Li, a technology analyst at US investment bank Bernstein Research, said in an interview with Nikkei: "From a purely technical perspective, Intel is one to two years behind TSMC. If we also consider the ability to improve yield and mass production, Intel is at least two years behind TSMC."
He also believes that if Intel outsources the production of all its own chips in the future, TSMC and Samsung will benefit, and UMC (2303) and GlobalFoundries may also get some small orders.
*Disclaimer: This article is originally written by the author. The content of the article is the author's personal opinion. Semiconductor Industry Observer reprints it only to convey a different point of view. It does not mean that Semiconductor Industry Observer agrees or supports this point of view. If you have any objections, please contact Semiconductor Industry Observer.
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