2013年4月17日

TSMC & SAMSUNG & APPLE



Apple Versus Samsung’s Winner Is TSMC: Riskless Return


TSMC gets $7 in sales for every smartphone sold worldwide, according to Chief Executive Officer Morris Chang, because it’s the only company with the technology to make the chips used in the latest handsets. That ubiquity let Hsinchu, Taiwan-based TSMC post the best risk-adjusted returns among the world’s top 20 chipmakers over the past three years, according to the BLOOMBERG RISKLESS RETURN RANKING. It also beat Apple, Samsung, Nokia Oyj and ZTE, the biggest smartphone makers.
Employees of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) exit the company's headquarters in Hsinchu, Taiwan. TSMC’s annual net income rose 86 percent over the past three years because of surging demand for smartphones and tablets. Photographer: Maurice Tsai/Bloomberg
Attachment: Spreadsheet of Riskless Return Ranking
Morris Chang, chairman and chief executive officer of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), plans to spend $9 billion defending the company’s leading position this year, adding capacity and improving technology. Photographer: Ashley Pon/Bloomberg
A silicon wafer made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is arranged for a photograph at the company's headquarters in Hsinchu, Taiwan. The company's shipments of 14 million 8-inch wafers of chips last year was three times UMC’s tally. Photographer: Maurice Tsai/Bloomberg
The logo of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is displayed at a news conference in Taipei. Photographer: Maurice Tsai/Bloomberg
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Shares of the world’s largest contract maker of chips doubled in Taipei over the period and had the lowest volatility as the company was unaffected by market share swings between smartphone-makers that sold 722 million units last year. TSMC’s size and financial strength means it can maintain a technology lead of at least 12 months over rival outsourcersUnited Microelectronics Corp. (2303) and Globalfoundries Inc.
“As long as smartphones are growing, TSMC wins,” Jeffrey Toder, a Taipei-based Royal Bank of Scotland Plc analyst, said by phone. “TSMC is the single most dominant supplier across all products.” He rates the company hold.
TSMC makes chips designed by clients including Nvidia Corp. (NVDA)Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM), Texas Instruments Inc. andBroadcom Corp. (BRCM) The components it produces include ones that let Apple iPhones and Samsung Galaxy devices control touch-screen displays and communicate with mobile networks.

Tablet Computers

The company’s grip also extends to tablet computers. It gets about $11 from every one sold worldwide, according to Chief Financial Officer Lora Ho. Global smartphone sales will probably rise 22 percent this year, with tablets climbing 41 percent to 172 million units, according to forecasts from Bloomberg Industries and IDC.
TSMC’s Taipei-listed shares returned 4.7 percent when adjusting for volatility in the three years ended Feb. 25. That’s ahead of Cupertino, California-based Apple, which posted an adjusted return of 4.2 percent and Samsung’s 3.7 percent. Qualcomm, the second-best performing dedicated chipmaker, rose 3 percent on an adjusted basis. Intel Corp. (INTC), the world’s biggest chipmaker, had a 0.3 percent return as it missed out on the growth in mobile devices.
Risk-adjusted return is calculated by dividing total return by volatility, or the degree of daily price variation, giving a measure of income per unit of risk. The returns are not annualized. Higher volatility means the price of an asset can swing dramatically in a short period, increasing the potential for unexpected losses.

Low Volatility

While TSMC’s cumulative 105 percent gain in the three years trailed Apple’s 122 percent increase, it topped the ranking because its volatility of 22.1 was the lowest of all suppliers and smartphone makers surveyed. TSMC’s New York-listed ADRs (TSM) also posted lower volatility than Apple’s 28.9 score and Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung’s 30.5.
Its Taiwan shares have advanced at more than six times the pace of the MSCI World Technology Hardware & Equipment Index (MXWO0TH) over the past three years. Still, the shares aren’t trading at a big premium compared to the index: TSMC’s shares have a price- to-earnings ratio of 16.2, compared with 14 for the MSCI World Technology Hardware & Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Since Apple’s founder Steve Jobs put the iPhone on sale in June 2007, TSMC has had an adjusted return of 2.9 percent. That’s the best performance among pure chipmakers, helped by the lowest volatility among all companies surveyed. Apple had a 6.9 percent adjusted return in the period and Samsung posted 5.2 percent. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (2317), the Taipei-based flagship of Foxconn Technology Group which assembles iPhones and iPads, had a negative return of 0.82 percent.

Rising Profits

TSMC’s annual net income rose 86 percent over the past three years because of surging demand for smartphones and tablets. It forecast sales this quarter that surpassed analyst estimates. UMC, the world’s second-largest contract maker of chips, unexpectedly predicted a first-quarter operating loss after failing to keep pace in mobile-phone chips.
“TSMC is now being viewed as a profitable growth company, whereas previously it was seen as just a profitable company,” CFO Ho told Bloomberg News last month.
Its sales are more than four times the size of Hsinchu, Taiwan-based UMC’s. Its net income margin, a measure of how much of its sales a company actually keeps in earnings, is 32.8 percent, higher than 97 percent of 50 global peers by value, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Its ratio of debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, was 0.37, lower than 82 percent of peers, at the end of last year. The company sold NT$21.4 billion of bonds last month.

Spending Plans

Chang, TSMC’s 81-year-old founder, plans to spend $9 billion defending the company’s leading position this year, adding capacity and improving technology. The investment means the company can make more-powerful chips at smaller sizes. Its shipments of 14 million 8-inch wafers of chips last year was three times UMC’s tally. Globalfoundries is unlisted.
TSMC has grown as clients shun the risk and cost of building their own factories. Neither Qualcomm nor Nvidia, the biggest designers of mobile processors, operate factories. Instead, they contract production to TSMC and UMC. Texas Instruments (TXN), the largest maker of chips that convert sound and video for use in electronics, and Broadcom also outsource production to chip foundries.
“If you’re looking at jostling between Qualcomm and Nvidia, it doesn’t matter because they’re both TSMC customers,” said RBS’s Toder. “If TSMC were shut down tomorrow, there’s not enough capacity in the world to make up for it.”

28 Nanometer

Demand for the latest 28 nanometer production technology spurred it to spend $8.3 billion last year, 38 percent more than originally planned, as the industry struggled to keep pace. One nanometer, equal to a billionth of a meter, measures the size of connections in a chip with smaller metrics being more advanced.
Customers were unable to turn to alternative suppliers because of TSMC’s lead in the technology. Nvidia lost “a lot” of revenue in the second quarter of last year, CEO Huang Jen- hsun said in May. Qualcomm also predicted lower than expected profit as smartphone makers delayed new models because of the lack of chips. The shortage was over by last month, according to Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacob.

Samsung Risk

TSMC could face a risk from Samsung, the world’s biggest maker of smartphones. The Korean company, which already makes most of its own components including displays and memory chips, is boosting production of its own mobile processors. Extending this push into areas where it’s relying on outside designers could take work from TSMC.
“If Samsung uses more in-house components, then other chip designers like Qualcomm won’t be getting orders and TSMC won’t be needed to manufacture them,” said George Chang, who rates TSMC buy at Yuanta Financial Holding Co. in Taipei.
At the same time, TSMC could benefit from an Apple push to pare its reliance on Samsung. Apple uses Samsung-made processors in iPads and iPhones, even though the Korean company sells competing smartphones and tablets.
TSMC could progressively replace Samsung as maker of the A- series processors used in Apple devices, Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Mark Li said in a Jan. 28 report. That could bring in $2.5 billion of revenue over the next three years, he wrote.

Mobile Focus

The Taiwanese company is also less reliant on the slowing PC market than Intel, the biggest maker of chips for desktop computers. PC sales will likely climb 1 percent this year after falling 3.2 percent to 352 million last year, according to International Data Corp. figures compiled by Bloomberg Industries. Sales have slowed on competition from tablets.
“Mobile devices like smartphones and tablets are what’s driving the technology industry now and for the next few years,” said Jitendra Waral, a Hong Kong-based Bloomberg Industries analyst, in an interview. “That is where the supply chain will find its growth.”
TSMC generated 54 percent of sales last quarter from components used in communication devices and 16 percent from computing chips, according to a company presentationSanta Clara, California-based Intel got 63 percent of sales from PC chips and less than 1 percent from mobile devices.
Intel, which both designs and makes its own chips, is trying to catch up in the mobile space with the Atom series aimed at tablets. The series was later into the market than products from competitors such as Qualcomm, making it difficult to convince mobile device makers to use its offerings.
“TSMC has emerged as a key supplier benefiting from handsets because it allows its customers to offer powerful application processors and communication chips,” said Randy Abrams, who rates the stock outperform at Credit Suisse Group AG in Taipei. “Being independent for all its individual clients and chip designers will help it keep its strong supplier position in the future.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Tim Culpan in Taipei at tculpan1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Tighe at mtighe4@bloomberg.net; Christian Baumgaertel at cbaumgaertel@bloomberg.net

Samsung 14nm finfet 12/2012


Samsung shows no signs of slowing down in 2013 and after confirming plans to expand its chip-making plant in Austin, Texas, the company's also taped out its first 14nm FinFET test chip. The new design (which is being compared with Intel's 'Tri-Gate' found on its Ivy Bridge hardware) promises to offer substantial power and performance improvements compared to existing designs, with low-leakage often mentioned in the same breath as the new silicon. Samsung's new test chip also involved ARM and Synopsis, and is a good sign that we'll be seeing its next-gen chips sooner rather than later.


三星昨(21)日宣布成功試產第1顆導入3D 鰭式場效電晶體(FinFET)的14奈米測試晶片,進度領先台積電,顯示在蘋果「去三星化」趨勢已定下,三星力拚台積電的野心只增不減。
韓聯社報導,三星與安謀 (ARM)、益華(Cadence)、明導(Mentor)與新思(Synopsis)共同合作,成功試產出旗下第1顆採用FinFET技術的14奈米測試晶片。
三星系統晶片部門主管表示,14奈米FinFET製程技術可提升電子裝置效能並降低耗電量,進一步改善行動環境,這也是IBM之後,第2家搭載安謀處理器架構,試產成功的14奈米FinFET測試晶片。
晶圓代工行動裝置晶片商機大,FinFET技術可以解決不斷微縮的奈米晶片的漏電問題。三星原本預計14奈米FinFET於2014年量產,與台積電規劃的16奈米FinFET同步。隨著三星14奈米FinFET試產晶片推出,半導體業者認為,三星FinFET不排除提前半年量產。
台積電面臨三星來勢洶洶的競爭外,格羅方德9月也宣布推出以FinFET導入的14奈米元件,預計2013年底進入客戶試產階段,2014年正式量產;聯電則預計2014年試產。
台積電為了防堵競爭對手,預計使用安謀首款64位元處理器「v8」來測試16奈米FinFET製程,預計明年11月推出首款測試晶片,最快2014年量產。台積電南科14廠將作為第1個量產16奈米FinFET基地,再下一個世代的10奈米FinFET製程,預計於2015年底推出【2012/12/22 經濟日報】 

三星14nm製程技術 Tape Out完成

【CTIMES 陳韋哲 報導】   2012年12月23日 星期日

瀏覽人次:【2664】
   
即使三星電子最近被採用Exynos系列處理器之行動裝置產品疑似存在著安全漏洞問題搞的烏煙瘴氣,但在邁向14奈米製程技術之路一樣沒有任何懈怠。繼格羅方德半導體以及英特爾後,三星也向外界宣布採用14奈米製程技術之行動晶片測試成功,該行動晶片不管是針對動態功耗以及漏電率方面皆有明顯改善。
三星宣布採用14奈米製程技術之行動晶片測試成功
附圖 : 三星宣布採用14奈米製程技術之行動晶片測試成功
三星提到目前14奈米FinFET比起32/28奈米的高介電常數金屬閘極(HKGD)製程,已經大幅改善先前SoC晶片之漏電率以及動態功耗的問題。也代表三星極有可能會在往後推出的行動處理器中採用ARM big.LITTLE處理技術和14奈米製程技術,相信可以預見效能更強大的行動處理器將會縮短問世時間。而三星也協同其他夥伴(Synopsy、ARM、Cadence、Mentor)進行多種晶片測試之Tape Out。
14nm Cortex-A7處理器的順利Tape Out也代表三星在14奈米製程技術的重大突破。三星同時發佈製程技術之產品開發套件,讓其他客戶能夠針對14奈米FinFET測試晶片進行模型設計以及其他產品設計之用。除此之外三星更與ARM共同簽訂有關14奈米製程技術與IP庫的合作協議,並成功研發了14奈米技術的測試處理器晶片。更與其他的合作夥伴一起完成了ARM Cortex-A7處理器、ARM big.LITTLE設置以及SRAM晶片的研發測試工作。
還記得三星於今年年中才斥資19億美元來建立一條新的邏輯晶片生產線,新生產線將採用300mm晶圓、20/14奈米製程技術,加大邏輯晶片的產量,以滿足智慧型手機和平板電腦行動處理器日漸增長的大量需求。以及表示會在近期之內將會開發出內建big.Little省電配置的Exynos處理器,雖然還必須等到2014年才能達到可用的水準,但相信未來行動處理器的效能很快就能跟上PC處理器的腳步。

TSMC working on 16nm finfet April/2013


TSMC Is Working on 16nm FinFET This Year, And On 10nm Chips for 2015

 | April 12, 2013
tsmc-apple-cpu
TSMC plans to outrace Global Foundries and Samsung to 16nm FinFET chips, and they expect to have them in silicon by the end of the year. Don’t get too excited yet, though, as that still means we’re at least another year and a half away on top of that, until we actually see devices with 16nm FinFET chips, and we still have to see the 20nm chips first, at which the next-gen Krait, Cortex A15, and perhaps even Tegra 5 will be made.
Nvidia also promised Tegra 6 will be made at 16nm FinFET (they are TSMC customer), but we won’t see that until 2016. TSMC also has plans for 10nm chips, and utilizing EUV (extreme ultra-violet) litography, but that seems to pose some challenges for now, so they are also researching e-beams in parallel. TSMC founder believers Moore’s Law should last us at least another 7-8 years:
“It looks like we have another 7 to 8 years ahead in advances — maybe more — we can see in technology down to 10 and even 7 nm,” said Morris Chang, founder and chief executive of TSMC, speaking to a small group of press after a keynote here.
“Moore’s Law is going to go on and we will be there — if anyone pursues it, we will pursue it,” he told an audience of several hundred chip designers.
TSMC will have 20 tapeouts for its 20nm process this year (the regular kind, not the experimental 20nm FinFETprocess), and expects mass production for next year. According to them, a Cortex A57 chip at 20nm should be 40% faster than a Cortex A9 at 28nm, and at 16nm FinFET it should be 90% faster, all at the same clock speed.
If their EUV litography is ready for the 10nm process, they will get another 35% performance improvement over the 28nm Cortex A9, at the same power consumption, or a 40% increase in power consumption, at the same performance. What we’ll probably see is a compromise between the two, though.
What this increased competition between the foundries means, is that ARM chips will soon catch-up with Intel, at least on the mobile side. Intel’s Bay Trail Atom will be made at 22nm, and will be released at the end of the year, while next-gen ARM chips will be released at 20nm only a few months later (but the node is also slightly smaller, so a little ahead of Bay Trail). Plus, right now ARM chips like the Cortex A15 have significantly higher performance than Atom already, and the same ARM chips also tend to have much higher GPU performance.
TSMC, Global Foundries, and Samsung should become increasingly more dangerous competition, as their chips get to be made at around the same node and around the same time, and their ARM chips get higher and higher performance that is “good enough” for most people, while costing OEM’s much less than what Intel is charging, and with plenty of chip makers that OEM’s can select.

ARM, TSMC, Cadence produce first 16nm finfet Cortex processor

Richard Wilson
Friday 05 April 2013 00:14
ARm Cortex-A57
ARM and Cadence have announced the first Cortex-A57 processor test chip fabricated on TSMC’s 16nm finfet manufacturing process technology.

According to the companies, this test chip resulted in several optimisations between manufacturing process, design IP, and design tools, which will be critical for production of 16nm chips.

“More than ever, success at the leading edge of innovation requires deep collaboration.  When designing SoCs incorporating advanced processors, like the Cortex-A57, and optimizing the implementation using physical IP created for FinFET processes, the expertise of our partners is needed,” said Tom Cronk, general manager, processor division at ARM.

The 16nm process using finfet technology required new design methodologies. For example, the design flow tackled RC extraction for 3D transistors, complex resistance models for interconnect and vias, quantised cell libraries and double patterning across more layers.

The test chip was implemented using the complete Cadence RTL-to-signoff flow, Cadence Virtuoso custom design platform, ARM Artisan standard cell libraries and TSMC’s memory macros.

“This major milestone was challenging on all fronts, requiring engineers from ARM, Cadence and TSMC to work as a unified team,” said Dr. Chi-Ping Hsu, senior vice president of R&D for the Silicon Realization Group at Cadence.

ARM、台積電攜手16nm FinFET 打造Cortex-A57
 2013/04/02
ARM宣佈將與台積電合作16nm FinFET製程技術,預計用於旗下Cortex-A57處理器產品設計,並且準備應用於包含高階電腦、平板與伺服器等高度運算需求產品。
針對旗下高階Cortex-A57處理器產品設計,ARM宣佈將與台積電合作16nm FinFET製程技術,同時優化64位元ARMv8處理器系列產品。配合ARM Artisan實體IP、台積電記憶體巨集,以及台積電提供開放創新平台 (Open Innovation Platform,OIP)生態環境架構下的電子設計自動化 (Electronic Design Automation,EDA)技術,在半年內即完成從暫存器轉換階層 (RTL)到產品設計定案流程。
未來雙方將合力打造更優異、節能的Cortex-A57處理器,以及相關元件資料庫,並且推出以ARM技術為基礎的高效能系統單晶片 (SoC),並且對應前期客戶在16nm FinFET製程技術上的設計實作。
至於在處理器效能表現方面,根據ARM說法將會是現行處理器規格的3倍以上 (在相同電力損耗下),至於整體電力效能則估計會是5倍左右 (在相同運作時脈下)。
就先前說法,ARM所提出的big.LITTLE技術也經能用於Cortex-A53與Cortex-A57架構處理器,而近期更新旗下Tegra處理器發展藍圖的Nvidia,也預計在2015年後推出代號為「Parker」的Tegra處理器,屆時將採用ARM所提出64位元處理器設計,估計將會採用此項技術打造。


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迎戰三星、英特爾 台積製程飆速

  • 2013-04-15 01:51
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  • 工商時報
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  • 【記者涂志豪/台北報導】
     晶圓代工龍頭台積電本周四(18日)將召開法說會,上周於美國聖荷西(San Jose)舉辦的2013年技術論壇中,卻意外宣示包括16奈米鰭式場效電晶體(FinFET)、極紫外光(EUV)等新技術研發及投產進度全部往前拉。
     業界認為,台積電將新技術投產進度時程全面提前,除了新技術研發有所突破外,另一戰略考量,即是為了迎戰聲勢如日中天的韓國三星,以及即將由薄紗後走到台前的英特爾。
     今年是台積電傾全力拉高28奈米產能的一年,原本規劃明年才開始拉升20奈米產能,但20奈米量產時間點可望提前至今年底開始。台積電在竹科12吋廠Fab12、南科12吋廠Fab14,已有20個20奈米晶片完成設計定案(tape-out),且多數為新一代ARM Cortex A15處理器核心的晶片。業界人士指出,當中自然包括了蘋果下一代A7處理器。
     台積電原本2015年後才真正進入16奈米FinFET世代,但現在已經確定今年底開始試產第一片16奈米FinFET製程晶圓,應是投產首顆64位元ARM Cortex-A57架構及ARMv8指令集設計晶片。
     由此來看,明年台積電就會進入16奈米FinFET世代,比原本預期早了一年。台積電雖然與英特爾、三星等共同加入了微影設備大廠荷商艾司摩爾(ASML)的「客戶聯合投資專案」,但去年底時,仍認為EUV技術尚未成熟,16奈米及10奈米仍會用到多重曝光浸潤式(Multi-Patterning Immersion)微影技術,7奈米後才會進入EUV世代,約在2016~2017年。
     不過,台積電指出,首片採用EUV微影投片的10奈米晶圓,可望在2015年底開始投產出貨。雖然台積電仍在評估電子束微影(e-beam)可行性,但由此來看,台積電EUV製程將提前1~2年時間進入生產階段。
     台積電將20奈米SoC製程、16奈米FinFET製程、EUV微影製程等生產時程全面往前拉,原本預估今年90億美元資本支出顯然不足,外資分析師均認為,台積電今年資本支出拉高到100億美元已無可避免,明年可能還會拉高到100億美元以上,才能將先進製程投產時間點順利提前。