TSMC has just made competition in the semiconductor industry more interesting as the company has become the first foundry in the world to start preparing for 1nm production. This is indeed a new benchmark in the industry, because the 1-nanometer process and more precise processes are called the "Holy Grail" in the semiconductor field, and the Taiwanese giant will continue to lead in this process, surpassing Intel and Samsung foundries. The new factory to be developed in Chiayi County in southern Taiwan is expected to revolutionize the technology industry in terms of performance and efficiency.
Before we get to the core of the proposed facility, let’s take a brief look at TSMC’s 1nm process. As early as the IEDM conference, TSMC shared its plan to develop a 1-nanometer node by 2030. Interestingly, the company expressed optimism about integrating up to "trillions of transistors" on the process through multiple 3D stacked chipsets. TSMC changed the naming method after the 2nm process, naming the 1.4nm and 1nm processes as A14 and A10 respectively, which is somewhat similar to Intel Foundry. However, success depends on how TSMC achieves this goal, especially since yield and supply have been huge issues facing the semiconductor industry recently.
TSMC’s 1nm plan will be an expensive one, with an estimated cost of approximately $32 billion. The factory is expected to be built in the South Taiwan Science Park (STP), covering an area of approximately 100 hectares, which will be divided into a 60-40 ratio, and will meet the needs of both semiconductor and integrated circuit packaging production in the new factory. TSMC is also expected to complete multiple 2nm wafer fabs in Taiwan. This leading semiconductor company has not stopped moving forward in the process of "node shrinking".
Competition among chip manufacturers is expected to intensify in the future, especially Intel is expected to hold its "flagship foundry event" - IFS DirectConnect in the next few days, at which time the company may announce some surprising news, as the company has completed its "five nodes in four years" goal, which means Intel will introduce us to the latest progress after 18A, most likely giving us a look at its most advanced 10A (1nm) process.
However, it should be noted that the 1-nanometer process is still nearly five years away, or even longer, because we have not seen the advent of multiple processes before it. From the current point of view, TSMC may still lead the future development direction, but it all depends on how the company's competitors position themselves in the industry.