TSMC to get more involved in design, packaging, says report
Silicon Strategies
11/20/2003, 10:31 AM ET
HSINCHU, Taiwan -- Leading silicon chip foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd., said Thursday (November 20, 2003) that it needs to get more involved in design and packaging, according to a Reuters report.
To that end the company is expanding investment in chip design and packaging to circumvent a potential advantage integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) could have over foundries, the report said, attributing the sentiment to Genda Hu, TSMC's vice president in charge of marketing, speaking at the company's annual technology symposium.
IDM's are able to take customers' high-level design ideas all the way through design elaboration and manufacture to packaged chips, whereas foundries have typically worked after design and before packaging, the report said.
The need for foundries to change their model, or at least form partnerships in design and packaging, echoes ideas expressed by a senior executive from Singaporean foundry Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. a few days before (see November 18 story).
TSMC's approach would involve working more closely, but not competing, with partners that specialize in chip packaging and testing, the report said.
As chipmaking becomes more complex IDMs gain a potential advantage over foundries such as TSMC because design and packaging can no longer be kept separate, the article quoted Hu as saying.
"We can't ignore the fact that IDM companies, because their technology is integrated, are able to know about problems arising from integration ahead of time," the report quoted Hu saying. "This is why at TSMC, we are not just looking at chip manufacturing, but also looking at design and back-end production. When time for volume production comes, we can transfer technology to partner companies," the Reuters report also quoted Hu saying.
Royal Philips Electronics NV owns 19.1 percent of TSMC and TSMC said Wednesday that it would establish a $50 million joint venture with Omnivision Technologies Inc. for the package and test of image sensor chips, used in digital cameras and camera phones (see November 19 story). |
