How did TSMC get so good? | Power Tech

The panorama: By now, we’re all accustomed to the truth that TSMC is by far essentially the most succesful semiconductor maker on the planet, with all of the implications for business and geopolitics. And as this actuality units in, many individuals have been asking us how they obtained so good.

There are lots of good tales of this course of, the newest of which is Chris Miller’s Chip Wars (which is excellent), which covers the narrative of TSMC’s rise, however we predict the query actually goes deeper. What capabilities does TSMC have that others lack? And may another person construct them? It is not stunning that there is no easy reply to this query, however we predict there are a couple of components that actually stand out.

Editor’s be aware:
Visitor Creator Jonathan Goldberg is the founding father of D2D Advisory, a multifunctional consulting agency. Jonathan has developed development methods and alliances for firms within the cell phone, community, gaming and software program industries.

It is necessary to know that a lot of TSMC’s present benefit relies on intangibles. Everybody else should purchase the identical tools. And his success isn’t the results of genius. China’s SMIC has poached a whole lot of TSMC workers over time, to no avail. The reply isn’t capital both: constructing a sophisticated manufacturing unit is extremely costly, however many nations have invested huge fortunes in futile makes an attempt.

The TSMC benefit relies on years of studying and course of improvement

The TSMC benefit relies on years of studying and course of improvement. They know the way to put together chip designs for manufacturing, construct them, and most significantly, repair the inevitable bugs that present up. Most significantly, they’ll seize and retain all of this studying, to allow them to do all of this on an enormous scale, repeatedly.

To be honest, TSMC has gotten an enormous enhance from the Taiwanese authorities. The federal government offered direct subsidies that allowed TSMC to buy the perfect machines accessible. This was extremely necessary within the early days of the corporate, nevertheless it remained necessary for a very long time after. As we’ll see, an enormous a part of this story is the longevity and timescale of TSMC’s development.

A second main issue has been the suppression of the New Taiwan Greenback. The NTD has been buying and selling at a reduction of roughly 30% to the US greenback for the reason that Nineteen Nineties. Everybody is aware of this, however the US authorities has by no means acted on this foreign money manipulation, as an alternative largely as an effort to assist a regional ally: see The work of Brad Setser for extra on this.

Some will argue that this isn’t necessary: TSMC costs all gross sales in {dollars}, and its greatest expense, its tools, can be denominated in US {dollars}. However that overlooks human capital. Most of TSMC’s workers are primarily based in Taiwan and are paid in NT, so the corporate will get an enormous low cost on their salaries.

All these intangibles that we talked about earlier are captured within the firm’s human capital, which the corporate has paid for at a reduction, which in flip has been compounded over 20 years. It is onerous to overstate the significance of something happening for that lengthy.

TSMC produces extra silicon wafers than anybody else, by a substantial margin.

Lastly, and maybe most significantly, TSMC produces extra silicon wafers than anybody else, by a substantial margin. Apply results in enchancment, and TSMC will get extra observe than anybody. It might appear counter-intuitive, however semi-making is as a lot an artwork as it’s a science.

Everybody else can entry the identical machines as TSMC, however when your manufacturing course of depends on continuously pushing the boundaries of what is potential, there is no handbook that explains what to do. TSMC’s volumes over a long time have allowed them to construct all of the processes and data bases wanted to maintain transferring quicker than anybody else. As soon as once more, this issue is self-reinforcing.

TSMC reaches superior nodes sooner than others and subsequently will get higher efficiency quicker, permitting them to maneuver ahead time and again. This appears summary, however take into account that each new chip design will encounter bugs when it is first manufactured. TSMC engineers have in all probability already seen these errors and might repair them shortly.

All this offers TSMC not solely with vital benefits in capability, but in addition in financial phrases. There are many locations on the planet with the power to supply chips in state-of-the-art processes and provides these lecturers sufficient time that they’ll in all probability produce an ideal wafer, however TSMC can get there quicker and in large quantity.

All of that is to say that it is unlikely that anybody can actually meet up with TSMC any time quickly. It took them a long time to construct these processes. And this helps to partially clarify why TSMC is now keen to construct superior factories outdoors of Taiwan. They know that their factories in Arizona, Japan and Germany and elsewhere will proceed to depend on the corporate’s deep expertise in Taiwan. The US can get a state-of-the-art manufacturing unit, however that does not imply the US can actually do what TSMC does.