TSMC, Briefly Explained

Jon Y · 9 Jan 2021 · asianometry.com ↗

3 korrents from this piece

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Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
TSMC exists because Morris Chang concluded that competing with Intel on Intel's own business model was guaranteed to fail.

Their wordsAdopting the traditional semiconductor manufacturing business model to compete head to head against the likes of Intel would guarantee automatic failure.

Interesting
Our reading
Rising cost, not lost skill, is what drove all but three firms out of leading-edge chip manufacturing.

Their wordsBut over time things got more and more expensive and people started dropping out.

Interesting
Our reading
Only TSMC, Intel and Samsung can still manufacture at the leading edge, and that is a duopoly rather than a monopoly.

Their wordsThis leaves just TSMC, Intel, and Samsung Foundry as the last competitors in the industry capable of doing work at the leading edge.

Interesting