About Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) engages mainly in the manufacturing, sales, packaging, testing and computer-aided design of integrated circuits and other semiconductor devices and the manufacturing of masks. As a foundry, the company manufactures semiconductors using its manufacturing processes for its customers based on proprietary integrated circuit designs provided by them. The company offers a comprehensive range of wafer fabrication processes, including processes to manufacture complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) logic, mixed-signal, radio frequency (RF), embedded memory, bipolar complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (BiCMOS, which uses CMOS transistors in conjunction with bipolar junction transistor) mixed-signal and others. The company also offers design, mask making, TSMC 3DFabric advanced packaging and silicon stacking technologies and testing services. The company produced 30 percent of the world semiconductor excluding memory output value in 2022. The company counts among its customers many of the world’s leading semiconductor companies, ranging from fabless semiconductor companies, system companies to integrated device manufacturers, including but not limited to, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.; Amazon Web Services, Inc.; Broadcom Limited; Intel Corporation; MediaTek Inc.; NVIDIA Corporation; NXP Semiconductors N.V.; Qualcomm Inc.; Renesas Electronics Corporation; Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation; and STMicroelectronics N.V. Semiconductor Manufacturing Capacity and Technology The company manufactures semiconductors on silicon wafers based on proprietary circuitry designs provided by its customers. In 2022, the company’s annual capacity (in 12-inch equivalent wafers) was approximately 15 million wafers. Markets and Customers The company provides worldwide customer support. Its offices in Hsinchu and wholly-owned subsidiaries in the United States, Canada, Japan, China, the Netherlands, and South Korea are dedicated to serving its customers worldwide. Foundry services, which are both technologically and logistically intensive, involve frequent and in-depth interaction with customers. The company’s customer service and technical support managers work closely with the sales force to offer integrated services to customers. To facilitate customer interaction and information access on a real-time basis, a suite of web-based applications has also been offered to provide more active interactions with customers in design, engineering and logistics. Foundry Services Range of Services Because of the company’s ability to provide a full array of services, it is able to accommodate customers with a variety of needs at every stage of the overall foundry process. The flexibility in input stages allows the company to cater to a variety of customers with different in-house capabilities and thus to service a wider class of customers as compared to a foundry that cannot offer design or mask making services, for example. Fabrication Processes The company manufactures semiconductors mainly using the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process. The CMOS process is the mainstream semiconductor manufacturing process. The company uses the CMOS process to manufacture logic semiconductors, mixed-signal/radio frequency semiconductors, which combine analog and digital circuitry in a single semiconductor, micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS), which combines micrometer featured mechanical parts, analog and digital circuitry in a single semiconductor, and embedded memory semiconductors, which combine logic and memory in a single semiconductor, etc. Types of Semiconductors the company Manufactures The company manufactures different types of semiconductors with different specific functions by changing the number and the combinations of conducting, insulating and semiconducting layers and by defining different patterns in which such layers are applied on the wafer. The company’s semiconductors are used for a variety of different platforms. The principal platforms include: High Performance Computing Platform: Driven by data explosion and application innovation, high performance computing has become one of the key growth drivers for the company’s business. The company provides customers, both fabless IC design companies and system companies, with leading-edge process technologies, such as 3-nanometer Fin Field-Effect Transistor (FinFET), 4-nanometer FinFET, 5-nanometer FinFET, 6-nanometer FinFET, 7-nanometer FinFET and 12-nanometer/ 16-nanometer FinFET, as well as comprehensive intellectual properties, including high-speed interconnect intellectual properties to meet customers’ product requirements for transferring and processing vast amounts of data anywhere and anytime. In particular, the company introduced its first HPC-focused technology, N4X, representing the ultimate performance and maximum clock frequencies in its 5-nanometer family. Based on advanced process nodes, a variety of HPC products have been launched, such as personal computer central processing units (CPUs), graphics processor units (GPUs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), server processors, accelerators, and high-speed networking chips, etc. These products can be used in current and future 5G/6G infrastructure, AI, cloud, and enterprise data centers. The company also offers multiple TSMC 3DFabric advanced packaging and silicon stacking technologies, such as Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate (CoWoS), Integrated Fan-Out (InFO), and System on Integrated Chip (TSMC-SoIC), to enable homogeneous and heterogeneous chip integration to meet customers’ requirements for high performance, high compute density and high energy efficiency, low latency and high integration. The company will continue to optimize its HPC platform and strengthen collaboration with customers to help customers capture market growth in HPC markets. Smartphone Platform: For customers’ premium product applications, the company offers leading logic process technologies, such as 3-nanometer FinFET, 4-nanometer FinFET and 5-nanometer FinFET, as well as comprehensive intellectual properties to further enhance chip performance, reduce power consumption, and decrease chip size. For mainstream product applications, the company offers a broad range of logic process technologies, including 6-nanometer FinFET, 7-nanometer FinFET plus, 7-nanometer FinFET, 12-nanometer FinFET compact plus (12FFC+), 12-nanometer FinFET compact (12FFC), 16-nanometer FinFET compact plus (16FFC+), 16-nanometer FinFET compact (16FFC), 28-nanometer high performance compact (28HPC), 28-nanometer high performance mobile compact plus (28HPC+), and 22-nanometer ultra-low power (22ULP), in addition to comprehensive intellectual properties, to satisfy customer needs for high-performance and low-power chips. Furthermore, for premium and mainstream product applications, the company offers highly competitive, leading-edge specialty technologies to deliver specialty companion chips for customers’ logic application processors, including RF, embedded flash memory, emerging memory, power management ICs, sensors, and display chips, as well as TSMC 3DFabric advanced packaging technologies, such as industry-leading InFO technology. IoT Platform: The company provides leading, comprehensive, and highly integrated ultra-low power (ULP) technology platforms to enable innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) of things (AIoT, AI+ IoT) applications. The company’s offerings include the new FinFET-based 12-nanometer technology—N12e featuring energy efficiency with high performance that results in more computing power and AI inferencing, 22-nanometer ultra-low leakage (ULL), 28-nanometer ULP, 40-nanometer ULP, and 55-nanometer ULP technologies, which have been widely adopted by various edge AI system-on-a-Chip (SoC) and battery-powered applications. The company has also extended its low Vdd (low operating voltage) offerings, providing simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis (SPICE) models with a wide range of operating voltages for extreme low-power applications. In addition, the company offers competitive and comprehensive specialty technologies in RF, enhanced analog devices, embedded flash memory, emerging memory, sensors, display chips, and power management ICs, as well as multiple TSMC 3DFabric advanced packaging technologies, including InFO technology, to support the fast-growing demand in AIoT edge computing and wireless connectivity. Automotive Platform: The company offers a comprehensive spectrum of technologies and services to support the automotive industry’s three megatrends – safer, smarter and greener. The company is also an industry leader in providing a robust automotive intellectual property ecosystem, which covers 5-nanometer FinFET, 7-nanometer FinFET, and 16-nanometer FinFET technologies, for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), advanced in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), as well as zonal controllers for new electrical/electronic (E/E) architecture for the automotive industry. In addition to the advanced logic technology platform, the company offers a broad array of competitive specialty technologies, including 28-nanometer embedded flash memory, 28-, 22- and 16-nanometer millimeter wave RF, high sensitivity CMOS Image/LiDAR (light detection and ranging) sensors, and power management ICs. The emerging technology of magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) has qualified for Automotive Grade-1 on 22-nanometer, and is developing 16-nanometer solution to meet Automotive Grade-1 requirement. All these technologies are applied to the company’s automotive process qualification standards based on AEC-Q100 standards or meeting its customers’ technology specifications. Digital Consumer Electronics (DCE) Platform: The company provides customers with leading and comprehensive technologies to deliver AI-enabled smart devices for DCE applications, including digital TV (DTV), set-top box (STB), digital camera, and associated wireless local area network (WLAN), power management ICs, timing controller (T-CON) and so on. The company’s leading 7-nanometer FinFET, 16FFC/12FFC, 22ULP/22ULL and 28HPC+ technologies have been widely adopted by leading global makers of 8K/4K DTV, 4K streaming STB/ over-the-top (OTT), digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) devices, and so on. The company will continue to make these technologies more cost competitive through die size shrink for customers’ digital intensive chip designs, and to drive lower power consumption for more cost-effective packaging. Design and Technology Platforms: Modern integrated circuit designers need sophisticated design infrastructure to optimize productivity and cycle time. Such infrastructure includes design flow for electronic design automation (EDA), silicon proven building blocks, such as libraries and intellectual properties, simulation and verification design kits, such as process design kit (PDK) and technology files. All of this infrastructure is built on top of the technology foundation, and each technology needs its own design infrastructure to be usable for designers. This is the concept of the company’s technology platforms. The company unveiled an Open Innovation Platform (OIP) initiative in 2008 to further enhance its technologies offerings. More OIP deliverables were introduced over the years, as well as in 2022. In the design methodology area, the company announced EDA and intellectual property readiness of 3-nanometer and 5-nanometer, as well as continuous development of solutions to enhance power, performance and area (or PPA) on existing production technology nodes, including 6-nanometer, 12-nanometer and 22-nanometer nodes based on 7-nanometer, 16-nanometer and 28-nanometer, respectively. In addition, the company announced the availability of various 3-Dimensional Integrated Circuit reference flows to support TSMC 3DFabric that covers a wide range of design applications. Multi-project Wafer Program (CyberShuttle): The company offers a dedicated multi-project wafer processing service that allows it to provide multiple customers with circuits produced with the same mask. This program reduces mask costs by a very significant amount, resulting in accelerated time-to-market for the company’s customers. The company has extended this program to all of its customers and library and intellectual property partners using its broad selection of process technologies, ranging from the latest 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, 7-, 12-, 16-, 22-, 28-, 40-, 45-, 55-, 65- and 90-nanometer processes to 0.13-, 0.18-, 0.25-, 0.35- and 0.5-micron. This extension offers a routinely scheduled multi-project wafer run to customers on a shared-cost basis for prototyping and verification. The company developed its multi-project wafer program in response to the SoC development methodologies, which often require the independent development, prototyping and validation of several intellectual properties before they can be integrated onto a single device. Research and Development The company spent NT$163,262 million (U.S.$5,313 million) on research and development in 2022. Suppliers The principal suppliers for the company’s wafers are Formosa SUMCO Technology Corporation of Taiwan, GlobalWafers of Taiwan, Shin-Etsu Handotai of Japan, Siltronic AG of Germany, Soitec Microelectronics of Singapore, and SUMCO Corporation of Japan. Environmental and Climate Related Laws and Regulations Operations at the company’s fabs are subject to regulations and periodic monitoring by the R.O.C. Environmental Protection Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the State Environmental Protection Administration of China and the Japan Ministry of the Environment, and local environmental protection authorities in Taiwan, the U.S., China, and Japan. Subsidiaries and Affiliates Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation (VIS): As of February 28, 2023, the company owned approximately 28.3% of the equity interest in VIS. WaferTech, LLC (WaferTech): As of February 28, 2023, the company owned 100% of the equity interest in WaferTech. Systems on Silicon Manufacturing Company Pte. Ltd. (SSMC): As of February 28, 2023, the company owned approximately 38.8% of the equity interest in SSMC. Global Unichip Corporation (GUC): As of February 28, 2023, the company owned approximately 34.8% of the equity interest in GUC. TSMC China Company Limited (TSMC China): TSMC China (of which the manufacturing entity is Fab 10), a wholly-owned subsidiary primarily engaged in the manufacture and sale of integrated circuits. VisEra Technologies Company, Ltd. (VisEra Technologies): As of February 28, 2023, the company owned approximately 67.7% of the equity interest in VisEra Technologies. TSMC Global Ltd. (TSMC Global): TSMC Global is a wholly-owned subsidiary primarily engaged in corporate treasury investment activities. Xintec, Inc. (Xintec): As of February 28, 2023, the company owned approximately 41.0% of the equity interest in Xintec. TSMC Nanjing Company Limited (TSMC Nanjing): In May 2016, the company established TSMC Nanjing (of which the manufacturing entity is Fab 16), a wholly-owned subsidiary primarily engaged in the manufacture and sale of integrated circuits. TSMC Nanjing commenced commercial production in April 2018. TSMC Arizona Corporation (TSMC Arizona): In November 2020, the company established TSMC Arizona, a wholly-owned subsidiary that is expected to be primarily engaged in the manufacture and sale of integrated circuits. TSMC Arizona plans to build and operate an advanced semiconductor manufacturing facility, Fab 21, in Phoenix, Arizona. Construction on the site commenced in April 2021. TSMC Arizona targets to commence commercial production in 2024. In December 2022, the company announced a plan for TSMC Arizona to build and operate a second semiconductor manufacturing facility for commercial production in 2026. Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing, Inc. (JASM): In December 2021, the company established JASM, which is expected to be primarily engaged in the manufacture and sale of integrated circuits. In January 2022, Sony Semiconductor Solution Corporation (Sony) acquired a less than 20% equity interest in JASM. In April 2022, DENSO Corporation (DENSO) acquired a more than 10% minority equity interest in JASM. JASM plans to build and operate a semiconductor manufacturing facility in Kumamoto, Japan. Construction on the site commenced in April 2022 and commercial production is expected to commence in 2024. As of February 28, 2023, the company owned approximately 71.4% of the equity interest in JASM. History Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited, a Republic of China corporation, was founded in 1987. The company was incorporated in 1987.

Country
Industry:
Semiconductors and related devices
Founded:
1987
IPO Date:
10/24/1994
ISIN Number:
I_TW0002330008
Address:
Hsinchu Science Park, No. 8, Li-Hsin Road 6, Hsinchu City 300096, Taiwan
Phone Number
886 3 563 6688

Key Executives

CEO:
Wei, C. C.
CFO
Huang, Jen-Chau
COO:
Data Unavailable