14 DAY TRIAL // At one point, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company did not have to worry about roadmaps, and it even dictated what technologies its clients could use.
We haven't forgotten how TSMC decided to drop the 32nm node, thus forcing NVIDIA and AMD to extend their use of 40nm and jump straight to 28nm.
The foundry is still the foremost chip manufacturer in the world, but it has better competition now, from both Globalfoundries and Samsung.
Thus, it has found itself in a position where it must accelerate development of its next technology, the 16nm FinFET.
EE Times reports that the first wave of chips will be released near the end of the year, but nevertheless, this year instead of the next.
In later years, TSMC will follow up with 14nm-XM in 2014 and 10nm built on extreme ultraviolet lithography late into 2015.