RESILIENT DEMAND: Prices for more mature 8-inch components rose earlier this year and the firm said it expected supply to remain tight even if the global economy slows
Taipei Times
Date: Dec 07, 2018
By: Lisa Wang / Staff reporter, in HSINCHU
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co headquarters are pictured in Hsinchu on Nov. 22. Photo: Hung Yu-fang, Taipei Times
chipmaker and sole chip supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones, yesterday said that it is building a new 8-inch fab to meet robust demand for mature technologies, marking its first investment on a less advanced fab in 15 years.
Supply of mature and specialty technologies, especially from 8-inch fabs, has been constrained industrywide over the past year as demand rises for power management ICs, fingerprint identification chips, complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors and a wide range of other applications.
Tight supply caused a rare price hike for 8-inch wafers earlier this year.
Beyond investment on scaling down chip sizes, “we also spend on specialty technologies,” TSMC vice chairman and chief executive officer C. C. Wei (魏哲家) said in his opening speech at the company’s annual supply chain management forum in Hsinchu. “Most recently, we are building a new 8-inch fab in Tainan because demand is so strong.”
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