Semiconductors

With all the new fabs being built in Germany and Japan, as well as the expansion of production capacity in China, TSMC is planning to extend its production capacity for specialty technologies by 50% by 2027. As disclosed by the company during its European Technology Symposium this week, TSMC expects to need to not only convert existing capacity to meet demands for specialty processes, but even build new (greenfield) fab space just for this purpose. One of the big drivers for this demand, in turn, will be TSMC's next specialty node: N4e, a 4nm-class ultra-low-power production node. "In the past, we always did the review phase [for upcoming fabs], but for the first time in a long time at TSMC, we started building greenfield fab...

Gordon Moore, Intel's Co-Founder and Tech Industry Visionary, Passes Away At 94

Intel and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation have announced this evening that Gordon Moore, Intel’s famous co-founder and grandfather to much of the modern chip industry, has passed...

20 by Ryan Smith on 3/24/2023

Out With Organic, In With Glass? DNP Unveils Glass Core Substrate Tech For Chips

As the chip industry develops more sophisticated processors with higher heat dissipation requirements, some firms have moved on to chiplet-based designs. This not-so-gradual shift has resulted in chip packaging...

17 by Anton Shilov on 3/23/2023

Inflation Drives Up Fab Costs for Intel and Samsung by Billions of Dollars

To address future demand for semiconductors amid severe chip shortages of 2020 – 2022, all leading chipmakers announced plans to build new fabs and even disclosed their estimated costs...

15 by Anton Shilov on 3/16/2023

Samsung Seeks to Make South Korea No. 1 Chipmaker with $230B Investment Over 20 Years

Samsung on Wednesday unveiled their plan to invest $230 billion over the next 20 years in a new semiconductor production mega cluster in South Korea. The country's government believes...

22 by Anton Shilov on 3/15/2023

TSMC's 3nm Journey: Slow Ramp, Huge Investments, Big Future

Last week, TSMC issued their Q4 and full-year 2022 earnings reports for the company. Besides confirming that TSMC was closing out a very busy, very profitable year for the...

30 by Anton Shilov on 1/17/2023

TSMC Unveils Major U.S. Fab Expansion Plans: 3nm and $40 Billion by 2026

TSMC this week held its Arizona fab 'first tool-in' ceremony, where alongside celebrating its first US fab, the company also announced major expansion plans for the production facility. The...

17 by Anton Shilov on 12/7/2022

TSMC Forms 3DFabric Alliance to Accelerate Development of 2.5D & 3D Chiplet Products

Currently the majority of high-end processors are monolithic, but design methodologies are slowly but surely shifting to multi-chiplet modules as leading-edge fabrication technologies get more expensive to use. In...

9 by Anton Shilov on 10/27/2022

Micron Announces 20-Year Plan To Build $100 Billion U.S. Fab Complex

Now that the U.S. government has finally settled the matter of whether it would be providing subsidies to entice chip fabs to setup shop within the U.S., those fabs...

48 by Anton Shilov on 10/10/2022

Samsung Foundry Outlines Roadmap Through 2027: 1.4 nm Node, 3x More Capacity

Samsung outlined its foundry business roadmap for the next five years at its Foundry Forum event last week. The company plans to introduce its next generation fabrication technologies in...

14 by Anton Shilov on 10/10/2022

Micron Breaks Ground on Its $15 Billion EUV DRAM Fab in the U.S.

Micron this week broke ground on its leading-edge memory production facility near Boise, Idaho. The company will invest $15 billion in its new fab as a part of its...

23 by Anton Shilov on 9/14/2022

SK Hynix Starts Prepping for Next Semiconductor Boom with $11 Billion Memory Fab

When a major South Korean memory firm invests over $11 billion in a fab, that raises a couple of eyebrows. But when it comes within a major $100+ billion...

7 by Anton Shilov on 9/8/2022

Intel Kicks Off Fab Co-Investment Program with Brookfield: New Fabs to be Jointly Owned

Intel this week introduced its new Semiconductor Co-Investment Program (SCIP) under which it will build new manufacturing facilities in collaboration with investment partners – a sharp departure from the...

28 by Anton Shilov on 8/24/2022

Samsung's $15 Billion R&D Complex to Overcome Limits of Semiconductor Scaling

Samsung on Friday broke ground for a new semiconductor research and development complex which will design new fabrication processes for memory and logic, as well as conduct fundamental research...

26 by Anton Shilov on 8/19/2022

TSMC and ASML: Demand for Chips Remains Strong, But Getting Fab Tools Is Hard

TSMC's revenue this year is going to set an all-time record for the company, thanks to high demand for chips as well as increased prices that its customers are...

13 by Anton Shilov on 7/21/2022

Samsung Starts 3nm Production: The Gate-All-Around (GAAFET) Era Begins

Capping off a multi-year development process, Samsung’s foundry group sends word this morning that the company has officially kicked off production on its initial 3nm chip production line. Samsung’s...

22 by Ryan Smith on 6/30/2022

TSMC: N2 To Start With Just GAAFETs, Add Backside Power Delivery Later

When TSMC initially introduced its N2 (2 nm class) process technology earlier this month, the company outlined how the new node would be built on the back of two...

16 by Anton Shilov on 6/29/2022

TSMC to Customers: It's Time to Stop Using Older Nodes and Move to 28nm

We tend to discuss leading-edge nodes and the most advanced chips made using them, but there are thousands of chip designs developed years ago that are made using what...

20 by Anton Shilov on 6/29/2022

As HPC Chip Sizes Grow, So Does the Need For 1kW+ Chip Cooling

One trend in the high performance computing (HPC) space that is becoming increasingly clear is that power consumption per chip and per rack unit is not going to stop...

40 by Anton Shilov on 6/27/2022

TSMC to Expand Capacity for Mature and Specialty Nodes by 50%

TSMC this afternoon has disclosed that it will expand its production capacity for mature and specialized nodes by about 50% by 2025. The plan includes building numerous new fabs...

13 by Anton Shilov on 6/16/2022

TSMC Unveils N2 Process Node: Nanosheet-based GAAFETs Bring Significant Benefits In 2025

At its 2022 Technology Symposium, TSMC formally unveiled its N2 (2 nm class) fabrication technology, which is slated to go into production some time in 2025 and will be...

24 by Anton Shilov on 6/16/2022

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