Move to 65nm production to cost TSMC $1 billion
Morris Chang, chairman of leading semiconductor foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), has admitted that the cost of updating the companys operations to 65nm manufacturing processes could reach $1 billion by 2005.
“It is not too inaccurate to say that it is approaching $1 billion,” he said. This is around twice the amount the company spent on developing 130nm capability and a third more than its investment in 90nm technology.
TSMC has spent $400 million this year alone on process development, the majority going on 65nm manufacturing and many millions of dollars more will have to be invested before the company can start mass production with 65nm technology.
Chang said that the companys new 65nm SRAM text module was due to start producing low-power devices by late 2005. But he admitted that a high-speed version of this process would not be ready until the first half of 2006 and a general-purpose process was unlikely to begin operating until the latter part of that year.
Production at 65nm resolution is the latest major advance in chip making technology. It will fuel the creation of a new generation of faster electronic components. But the industry is growing increasingly worried about the cost of the new technology.
Chang said there was a need for more partnerships between manufacturers to offset the huge cost of research and development in new technologies.
He added that the problem of burgeoning research and development expenses was not confined just to the big manufacturers, citing the risks that small independent chip design companies also faced.
“When a medium or small-sized company spends tens of millions of dollar to develop a product, and it doesnt sell well, then that companys very survival will be in question,” he said.
