In the rapid development of the global semiconductor industry, TSMC has once again become the focus. According to the latest news, TSMC plans to increase the monthly production of its 3nm chips to 125,000 pieces. This move is not only a demonstration of TSMC's technical strength, but also a direct reflection of the recovery of the global semiconductor industry and the growth of market demand. China Exportsemi Web will try to deeply analyze the reasons behind this incident and its impact on the global semiconductor industry.
TSMC's 3nm chip production capacity has been increased
As the world's leading semiconductor manufacturer, TSMC's 3nm chip production capacity is the focus of the industry. According to industry insiders, TSMC's monthly output of 3nm chips will increase from the current 100,000 to 125,000. This increase in production capacity is due to TSMC's continuous optimization of its production process and expansion of production scale, driven by both technological progress and market demand.
TSMC began mass production of the 3nm process in December 2022 and will exclusively supply the first-generation 3nm process (N3B) to Apple in 2023. With the maturity of the process and the increase in market demand, the second-generation 3nm process (N3E) has also begun to be adopted by more customers, such as Qualcomm, MediaTek, Apple, AMD, and NVIDIA. According to IT House, TSMC's 3nm process customers include Qualcomm (for the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 4), MediaTek (for the next-generation Dimensity 9400), Apple (for the M3 Ultra chip and A18 Pro processor), AMD (for Zen 5 CPUs and RDNA 4 GPUs), and Nvidia (for Blackwell architecture GPUs).
Figure: TSMC's monthly output of 3nm chips will reach 125,000 pieces
Market demand and technology driven
The increase in TSMC's 3nm chip production capacity is not only the inevitable result of technological progress, but also a direct reflection of market demand. With the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing (HPC) and other fields, the demand for high-performance and high-computing power chips is increasing. TSMC's 3nm process came into being in this context to meet customers' needs for high-end chips. In addition, TSMC is also continuously optimizing its production process and improving yield, so that the capacity utilization rate of the 3nm process is expected to reach more than 80% in 2024.
The recovery of the global semiconductor industry
Globally, the semiconductor industry is experiencing a recovery. In 2023, the global semiconductor market experienced a cyclical decline, but in 2024, the market began to recover gradually as demand improved and inventories normalized. SEMI, an international semiconductor organization, expects global semiconductor sales to grow by about 13% to 16% in 2024, possibly reaching $600 billion, and will continue to grow in the coming years, and is expected to reach the $1 trillion milestone by around 2030. This growth trend not only provides a broad market space for semiconductor manufacturing companies such as TSMC, but also brings new development opportunities for the entire industry chain.
The potential of the Chinese market
As the world's largest consumer electronics market, China's demand for semiconductor products continues to grow. With the rapid development of emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, the demand for semiconductor products in the Chinese market will further increase. China's investment in mature technologies remains strong, with high-bandwidth memory (HBM), gate-by-the-loop (GAA) transistors, and advanced packaging becoming hot spots in the industry. In addition, the steady recovery in smartphone production in China and the growth in the penetration rate of electric vehicles are also driving the demand for semiconductor products. The combination of these factors has made the Chinese market occupy an important position in the global semiconductor industry.
TSMC's future layout
TSMC has not only made significant progress in the 3nm process, but is also actively deploying a more advanced 2nm process. The 2nm process is expected to be launched in 2025 and mass production will be achieved in 2026. This technological advancement will further solidify TSMC's leading position in global semiconductor manufacturing. At the same time, TSMC is also expanding its production capacity, and it is expected that by 2025, the monthly production capacity of the 2nm process will reach 30,000 pieces to further meet market demand.
Epilogue
The increase in TSMC's 3nm chip production capacity is not only a reflection of the company's own technological progress, but also a microcosm of the recovery and development of the global semiconductor industry. Globally, the semiconductor industry is ushering in a new growth cycle, and the increase in market demand and the promotion of technological innovation will jointly promote this process. For TSMC, grasping market opportunities and continuing technological innovation will help it maintain its leading position in future market competition. For the entire semiconductor industry, this is undoubtedly an era full of opportunities and challenges.
