14 DAY TRIAL // TSMC seems to be devoted to massively improve its chip fabrication technologies in the years to come as the foundry is now promising that it will deliver its first 14nm devices built using 450mm wafers as soon as 2015.
This information was unveiled by Shang-yi Chiang, Senior Vice President of R&D for the company, in an interview with the DigiTimes publication.
According to Chiang, TSMC will start its first stages of research and development for the 14nm node in 2012, and expects to begin volume production in 2014.
The foundry representative also mentioned that TSMC plans to use 450mm wafers for the production of these chips, adding that by going this route they will be able to decrease the costs of the upcoming 14nm chips.
The transition to 450mm will also allow TSMC to build fewer fabs, which will in turn lower land and labor costs. The latter are extremely important for the foundry as it's currently facing a shortage of qualified engineers.
The first 450mm wafer production lines will be housed in TSMC's existing 300mm fabs.
According to analysts, the biggest obstacle for TSMC in the adoption of 450mm fabs is the equipment suppliers reluctance to develop the tools needed, as they still haven't managed to get the profit anticipated from the switch to 300mm.
Right now, Intel is the only company, outside of TSMC, that has firm plans to open a 450mm wafer facility, as the Santa Clara-based company is getting ready to start 450mm research and development at its D1X lab sometime in 2013.
Outside of the company's future plans regarding 14nm production, Chiang also mentioned that TMSC has received enough orders to fully utilize its 28nm production capacity. As a result, the 28nm fabrication process will be available for mass production in early 2012.