TSMC invests in downturn, tips 22-nm
Mark LaPedus
EE Times
04/21/2009
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Amid one of the toughest periods in its illustrious history, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) remains cautiously optimistic about the IC industry and vowed that it will continue to invest in R&D despite the downturn.
TSMC (Hsinchu, Taiwan) plans to hire more engineers. The world's largest foundry provider also reiterated plans to equip and ramp up its 40-nm fab lines this year. It is readying new and separate 3-D and CMOS image sensor technologies. And it is also planning to move the IC-equipment in its R&D fab for the 22-nm node.
Rick Tsai, president and chief executive of TSMC, reiterated industry reports that the silicon foundry giant is seeing new order activity, but he also warned that there are still challenges ahead in the market.
Among those challenges include the overall economy, product demand and margin pressures. ''This recession is bad,'' Tsai said at TSMC's Technology Symposium here. ''This is a difficult time for all of us.''
Indeed, it has been a humbling time for TSMC. After strong growth in the first three quarters of 2008, TSMC's business fell off the cliff in the fourth quarter of last year.
As a result, the company is expected to report a loss in Q1. It also recently cut about 200 jobs, implemented furloughs and slowed its wafer starts.
Now, there are some positive signs for the company and the overall industry. Inventories are low. Activity in China is picking up. ''We are seeing what we call rush orders,'' Tsai said.
Still, the overall IC market is expected to fall in 2009. ''We will see a dip in 2009,'' he said. ''We will see moderate growth in 2010.''
Nonetheless, TSMC plans to innovate and invest its way out of the downturn, he vowed. Here are some of the company's plans:
Invest or bust
1. Now, the company has about 1,200 R&D process engineers. Going forward, it wants to hire 30 percent more R&D engineers.
2. Separately, TSMC has 600 engineers that are focused on IC design issues. Going forward, it wants to hire 15 percent more in this arena.
3. In May, Intel Corp. said it will port unspecified Atom processor cores to TSMC's technology platform including processes, IP, libraries and design flows under the terms of an agreement between the two companies.
4. Seeking to accelerate the product development process, TSMC this week rolled out a one-two punch in the arena: It has unveiled a mixed-signal/RF design kit as well as a foundry-specific integrated sign-off flow.
5. TSMC is developing a new CMOS image sensor process for 2-, 5-, and 8-megapixel designs. It has a new 0.11-micron process.
6. TSMC plans to have its 3-D efforts in place. By June, it will ready its 300-mm fab for thru-hole-silicon (TSV) applications.
7. TSMC is moving forward with the phase 4 part of its Fab 12 plant, which is based in Hsinchu. As previously reported, the company plans to equip the fab for use in its recently-announced 40-nm process.
8. In Fab 12, it plans to move the equipment for its 22-nm node, which is under development.
At present, the company is ramping up its 40-nm process. It is also on track with its latest 28-nm process, said Jack Sun, vice president of R&D at TSMC. Based on high-k and metal gates, the recently-introduced 28-nm process is due out in the first part of 2010.
TSMC is currently looking at the various options for 22-nm. Like 28-nm, the company's 22-nm process will be based on 193-nm immersion lithography, ultra-low k and its second-generation high-k technology. It dropped hints that its high-k would have an EOT of 0.7-nm.
TSMC plans to roll out its 22-nm process ''two years after 32-nm,'' Sun said. TSMC is set to ship 32-nm by the end of 2009. |
