Thanks to the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world's largest foundry corporation, is expected to increase its production capacity for 3 NANO process products by 30% this year, local media including the Liberty Times reported on the 28th, citing sources.
According to local media, TSMC stated that it is responding to the increased demand from customers such as Apple, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and AMD due to the explosive growth of the AI industry by expanding its 3 NANO production facilities. It further explained that, thanks to the expansion of TSMC's 3 NANO production facilities and full operation, the monthly production of the 3 NANO process is expected to exceed 120,000 units by the end of this year, which is an increase of over 30% compared to last year (about 90,000 units).
It emphasized that the 3 NANO process, which accounted for only 26% of TSMC's revenue in the fourth quarter of last year, will become a growth momentum for TSMC this year along with the 'chip on wafer on substrate' (CoWoS) packaging. Another source indicated that the monthly production capacity of the 5 NANO process at TSMC's 18 fabs (semiconductor manufacturing plants) in the southern science park that produces 12-inch (305 mm) 3 NANO and 5 NANO wafers amounts to about 150,000 units.
It explained that TSMC plans to increase its 3 NANO production facilities instead of expanding its 5 NANO production facilities to meet the demands of large customers. This move by TSMC is interpreted to be related to NVIDIA's potential adoption of the 3 NANO process for its next-generation graphics processing unit (GPU) called Blackwell, which is a follow-up chip to the Rubin.
Meanwhile, experts evaluate TSMC as generally dominant in the advanced sector of 2 NANO and above. TSMC is expected to begin mass production of the next-generation 2 NANO process in the fourth quarter of this year.