By the middle of next year, TSMC’s 2nm chip production capacity will increase by 22%

As of now, 2nm chip sales account for about 3% of TSMC’s total cash revenue, but the company is determined to expand core production capacity. according to Taiwan mediaFrom the end of this year to the middle of next year, production will increase by 22%, from 90 silicon wafers per month to 110,000 wafers.

Image source: TSMC

At the same time, the production of 3nm wafers will expand. Although the increase in percentage terms is only 16%, the number of silicon wafers processed per month will increase from more than 180,000 to 210,000. Wedbush Securities analysts estimate that TSMC will process no more than 150,000 silicon wafers per month for 3nm wafers in the second half of the year, and in the case of more advanced 2nm products, this number will not exceed 60,000 wafers per month.

In the foreseeable future, three additional TSMC factories will be able to start producing 3nm wafers in Taiwan, Japan and Arizona. In Taiwan, some production lines that previously specialized in producing 5nm components will be converted to produce 3nm wafers. This year, TSMC’s capital expenditures will be between US$6 billion and US$64 billion, of which 70% to 80% will be allocated to advanced technology processes.

At the same time, TSMC is working hard to expand wafer testing and packaging capabilities using advanced CoWoS technology. If Taiwan focuses on the AP7 factory, then after a specialized company appears in Arizona, there will be no need to transport silicon wafers processed in the United States to Taiwan and then return to Arizona as finished products. If TSMC is able to package the equivalent of 130,000 silicon wafers per month using the CoWoS method by the end of this year, that number will roughly double to 260,000 wafers by the end of 2028. By then, Intel will produce 45,000 silicon wafers with its EMIB-T technology, compared with the current silicon wafer production of 20,000 pieces per month. Google, Amazon and even MediaTek may be interested in Intel’s services in this area.