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Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Taiwan's government strengthens 'silicon shield,' restricts exports of TSMC's most advanced process technologies
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Taiwan plans to tighten control over exports of advanced process technologies as well as outbound semiconductor investments, reports Economic Daily. The new legal measures will enforce the 'N-1' technology restriction, essentially barring TSMC from exporting its latest production nodes, and introduce penalties for violations— but there's a major catch for TSMC. The 'N-1' policy, confirmed by Premier Cho Jung-tai, will apply to TSMC's planned production in the United States. This approach restricts export of the most advanced process technology, allowing only one generation older to be deployed abroad. Before this amendment, Taiwan's regulations did not explicitly require such controls for semiconductor manufacturing processes. These rules are based on Article 22 of the amended Industrial Innovation Act, which is expected to take effect by the end of 2025. There is a major catch about TSMC's most advanced process technology, though. Today, TSMC has one leading-edge node: N3P manufacturing technology. But by the end of the year, it will start producing chips on its N2 fabrication process, which will become its flagship. Starting from late 2026 and onwards, however, TSMC expects to have two flagship nodes: N2P for client applications that do not need advanced power delivery and A16 with Super Power Rail backside power delivery for HPC applications that consume a lot of power. It remains to be seen which process technology will be considered as 'flagship' by Taiwanese authorities, and therefore export restricted, or if the government will ban exports of both nodes for a year when TSMC introduces successors for N2P and A16, its A14 and A16P nodes. In addition, the amended law, passed after its third reading in the Taiwan parliament, gives Taiwan's authorities the right to reject or cancel overseas investments if they are found to compromise national security, damage the country's economic development, violate treaty obligations, or result in unresolved major labor disputes. Under the new law, these six conditions are retained, but are now backed by higher-level legislation. The revised Article 22 also includes the possibility of partially or fully rejecting investments or attaching conditions to approval. If a company receives approval but later triggers any of these risks, the central authorities are authorized to demand corrective action or revoke the investment entirely if the issue is serious. The new law elevates existing investment restrictions from sub-regulations to formal legislation and adds legal consequences for non-compliance. The Ministry of Economic Affairs stated that the law's implementation date will be announced only after the sub-regulations are revised, within six months. This means the earliest enforcement could begin by late 2025. The regulation's rollout comes amid rising geopolitical risks and after TSMC announced plans to increase its investments in its American production capacity from $65 billion over four years to $165 billion over an undisclosed period. The amendment also introduces penalties that were not present before. Companies that invest abroad without prior approval may face fines ranging from NT$50,000 to NT$1 million ($30,830). If an investment is approved but the company later fails to correct identified violations — such as endangering national security or harming economic development—the authorities can impose repeated fines of NT$500,000 ($15,414) to NT$10 million ($308,286). But given that TSMC plans to invest $165 billion in its U.S. facilities, a $300,000 fine will hardly affect the company's bottom Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
Associated Press
10-02-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Silicon Creations Expands Clocking IP Portfolio on TSMC N2P Technology including Novel Temperature Sensor Design
Silicon Creations, a leading provider of high-performance analog and mixed-signal intellectual property (IP), today announced the successful tape-out of a chip on the TSMC N2P process including a novel temperature sensor design and an expanded portfolio of clocking IP to support next-generation semiconductor products. The newly developed temperature sensor using N2P technology marks a departure from traditional BJT-based temperature sensing methods. This innovative design is compatible with current leading-edge semiconductor fabrication processes while offering a complete and SoC integration-friendly temperature monitoring solution. By addressing evolving industry needs, this sensor underscores Silicon Creations' commitment to innovation within existing and future semiconductor technologies. In addition to the temperature sensor, the chip on the TSMC N2P process expands Silicon Creations' silicon-proven 2nm portfolio, which includes a wide range of precision clocking solutions such as phase-locked loops (PLLs) and oscillators. As an industry leader in both clocking IP – including ring-based and LC-based PLLs – and high-speed interface IP (SerDes), Silicon Creations continues to set the standard for high-performance, reliable, integration-friendly designs. Silicon Creations' clocking portfolio includes: Jitter-optimized, power-optimized, and area-optimized PLLs Fast-frequency-hopping frequency-locked loops (FLLs) Free-running oscillators Low-noise crystal oscillators Low-noise clock buffers Commitment to Excellence and Quality Silicon Creations offers over 700 unique IP products, including more than 450 different PLLs, designed to meet diverse customer requirements. The company's ISO-9001 certification reflects its adherence to strict quality processes, ensuring designs meet target specifications. Extensive silicon testing across process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) variations, along with detailed test reports, reduces risk for customers and accelerates time-to-market. Proven Track Record With over 500 customers, Silicon Creations' IP has been integral to more than 1,600 mass production chips and has been deployed in over 12 million 12-inch wafers. The company's robust portfolio and focus on customer success have solidified its reputation as a trusted partner in the semiconductor industry. A member of the TSMC Open Innovation Platform ® (OIP) Ecosystem for over 12 years, Silicon Creations has won the TSMC OIP Partner of the Year award for eight consecutive years, demonstrating its leadership in the field and commitment to innovation. About Silicon Creations Silicon Creations provides world-class silicon intellectual property (IP) for precision and general-purpose timing PLLs, SerDes and high-speed differential I/Os. Silicon Creations' IP is in production from 2 to 180 nanometer process technologies, with 2nm GDS available for deployment. With a complete commitment to customer success, its IP has an excellent record of first silicon to mass production in customer designs. Silicon Creations, founded in 2006, is self-funded and growing. The company has development centers in Atlanta, USA, and Krakow, Poland, and worldwide sales representation. For more information, visit PUB: 02/10/2025 12:46 PM/DISC: 02/10/2025 12:47 PM
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
If I Could Only Buy 1 Semiconductor Stock, This Would Be It
The last few days have been quite challenging for the semiconductor industry. The news of Chinese start-up DeepSeek releasing its open-source AI model DeepSeek-R1 -- which it says cost less than $6 million to create -- has triggered concerns about drastic declines in AI spending. Not surprisingly, semiconductor stocks that have benefited dramatically from the explosive global demand for AI infrastructure are suffering significant drawdowns in this tech sell-off. However, few semiconductor stocks have been negatively affected by disproportionate fears about future AI spending. One is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM) or TSMC, which is estimated to account for 65% of the global foundry market in 2024. Since efficiency improvements can result in better monetization of AI technologies, many technology companies may even increase spending on AI-optimized hardware. Furthermore, semiconductors are used across sectors for multiple applications, excluding AI. Hence, as a leading foundry player, TSMC is relatively immune to variations in global AI spending, so it makes sense to consider it a compelling semiconductor pick in 2025. There are also other reasons why TSMC can be a worthwhile investment for astute investors in 2025. As the largest independent foundry in the world, TSMC has been exceptionally successful in managing growth and profitability. This is evident in that 2024 revenues soared 30% year over year to $90 billion, while gross margins expanded by 1.7 percentage points to 56.1%. Management has also provided healthy guidance for the first quarter of fiscal 2025. Revenues are expected to fall in the range of $25 billion to $25.8 billion, up 34.7% year over year at the midpoint. In comparison, gross margins and operating margins are expected to be in the range of 57% to 59% and 46.5% to 48.5%, respectively. Thanks to its technological leadership in advanced semiconductor manufacturing and its broad customer base, TSMC's high-performance computing (HPC) segment has become its largest revenue contributor. In 2024, HPC revenues were up 58% year over year and accounted for nearly 51% of the company's total revenues. Smartphones, Internet of Things, and automotive segments contributed 35%, 6%, and 5%, respectively, to total revenues. The diversified client base makes TSMC relatively resilient to marketwide headwinds. TSMC has also been at the forefront of advanced semiconductor manufacturing. In 2024, the high-margin category of advanced process nodes accounted for 69% of its wafer revenue, up significantly from 58% in 2023. The company aims for volume production with a next-generation 2-nanometer process node in the second half of 2025. Plus, the company has introduced N2P as an extension of the 2-nanometer process node, with better performance and power efficiency. TSMC expects to commence volume production of N2P in the second half of 2026. TSMC has planned to spend capex of $38 billion to $42 billion in 2025, with approximately 70% allocated to advanced process technologies, 10% to 20% to specialty technologies, and the remaining 10% to 20% to advanced packaging, testing, mask making, and other activities. This level of capex spending is expected to strengthen TSMC's leadership position in the global foundry market. Undoubtedly, exceptional global demand for high-performance computing and AI applications has been a major tailwind for TSMC in recent years. TSMC's AI accelerators (including AI-optimized graphics processing units (GPUs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) controllers) accounted for a mid-teens percentage of total revenue in 2024. Although this revenue has more than tripled year over year, TSMC expects AI accelerator revenues to double in 2025, driven by solid demand at data centers. Demand for AI accelerators in edge computing or on-device AI is also booming. TSMC stands to benefit from the estimated 5% to 10% more silicon content being used in these AI-capable devices. The company also expects a replacement cycle in consumer electronics to further drive demand. Subsequently, TSMC estimates its AI accelerator revenues will grow annually at a mid-40% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2024 to 2029. Despite its many strengths, TSMC trades at 23.7 times forward earnings. That's cheaper than peers like Nvidia and ASML, which are trading at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) of 28.09x and 30.2x, respectively. Furthermore, analysts expect TSMC's revenues and earnings per share to grow year-over-year by 27.75% and 28.1%, respectively, in 2025. Coupled with a dividend yield of 0.94% and a healthy dividend payout ratio of just 27.3%, TSMC seems like a compelling pick in 2025. 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