14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that all the yield issues and the generally insufficient chip supply have finally begun to demand more daring steps on the part of foundries. While TSMC and Globalfoundries have already scrapped their own share of manufacturing processes, deciding to go straight to 22nm, 28nm or 20nm, they, or TSMC at least, can't keep up with the growing demand for chips of any kind. To alleviate this problem, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has decided to do whatever it takes to increase its wafer output.
TSMC will build a new facility in the Central Taiwan Science Park. Set to start production of 300mm wafers as soon as it becomes operational, the fab, named Fab 15, will start out by making chips based on the 40nm manufacturing process technology. This means that NVIDIA and Advanced Micro Devices might finally be nearing an age where their cards become available when they should and don't suffer repeated delays because of chip shortage.
The effect of low 40nm yields can still be felt, but, at the very least, it was lessened in the first quarter of 2010, when this process accounted for 14% of total wafer sales.
Fab 15 should completely solve any remaining loose ends and will require an investment of $3.1 billion on the part of the semiconductor manufacturer, which is quite a large part of the total planned US$4.8 billion in annual investment expenditure for 2010.
This new facility should be able to make about 100,000 wafers a month. According to company estimates, this would improve the total output by 35% for 300mm wafers based on 130nm and smaller manufacturing processes. Currently, supply of such a 0.13-micron process and below are 30-40% short of demand Also, the factory will eventually transition to 28nm and 20nm technologies. The actual construction efforts will begin in the middle of the ongoing year.