Industry: TSMC's global production capacity explodes, benefiting wafer fab equipment manufacturers
The industry in Taiwan, China, China, predicted that TSMC's sales in the second quarter might exceed its target, because customers' orders related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) continued. In July this year, Apple's iPhone 16 series smartphone chips and Intel's 3nm chips will begin mass production. Due to strong customer demand, TSMC is also accelerating its expansion of production capacity, thereby promoting the business of its semiconductor equipment partner.
TSMC, NVIDIA, and SK Hynix, leaders in high bandwidth storage, are the three major beneficiaries of the AI era. TSMC has brought many supply chain partners onto the train of artificial intelligence.
The explosion of TSMC's future production capacity will also drive the development of semiconductor equipment manufacturers. Currently, TSMC has announced the establishment of three wafer fabs in Arizona, USA, with the first one starting trial production of the 4nm process in April this year and mass production expected to begin in the first half of 2025. The second factory will adopt a 3nm/2nm process to support strong demand for AI related products, and is expected to begin mass production in 2028.
As for the Kumamoto factory in Japan, TSMC's first wafer fab has been completed and will begin mass production in the fourth quarter. Kumamoto Plant 2 will also begin construction within this year, with plans for mass production in 2027. These two factories will produce processes at 40nm, 12nm/16nm, and 6nm/7nm.
The Hsinchu Fab20 and Kaohsiung Fab22 plants in Taiwan, China, China, will produce 2nm chips and plan to start mass production in 2025; The AP5 factory in Taichung will be engaged in CoWoS packaging manufacturing, while the AP7 factory in Chiayi will be dedicated to CoWoS and SoIC packaging.
Driven by this series of factory building plans, TSMC is actively purchasing wafer fab equipment to attract global supply chain partners to meet its needs. Carl Zeiss from Germany recently announced an investment of NT $300 million to establish the first innovation center in the Hsinchu Science Park, providing semiconductor testing solutions for electronic, optical, and 3D X-ray microscopy technologies. CoWoS equipment suppliers GPTC (Hongsu Technology), Scientech (Xinyun Enterprise), and GMM Corp (Junhua Precision Industry) have reported that their equipment has been fully booked, and the shipment time for new orders is set for 2026.
As for the Kumamoto factory in Japan, TSMC's first wafer fab has been completed and will begin mass production in the fourth quarter. Kumamoto Plant 2 will also begin construction within this year, with plans for mass production in 2027. These two factories will produce processes at 40nm, 12nm/16nm, and 6nm/7nm.
The Hsinchu Fab20 and Kaohsiung Fab22 plants in Taiwan, China, China, will produce 2nm chips and plan to start mass production in 2025; The AP5 factory in Taichung will be engaged in CoWoS packaging manufacturing, while the AP7 factory in Chiayi will be dedicated to CoWoS and SoIC packaging.
Driven by this series of factory building plans, TSMC is actively purchasing wafer fab equipment to attract global supply chain partners to meet its needs. Carl Zeiss from Germany recently announced an investment of NT $300 million to establish the first innovation center in the Hsinchu Science Park, providing semiconductor testing solutions for electronic, optical, and 3D X-ray microscopy technologies. CoWoS equipment suppliers GPTC (Hongsu Technology), Scientech (Xinyun Enterprise), and GMM Corp (Junhua Precision Industry) have reported that their equipment has been fully booked, and the shipment time for new orders is set for 2026.