4 ms·

How does this scale? TSMC can't literally be the only fab in the world...

treyd 1y ago
They're the only fab company in the world with the technology to allow Intel, AMD, and Nvidia to compete with each other on the playing field they do.
- vonneumannstan 1y ago
  Right but at some point does Nvidia use their muscle and block TSMC from making chips for anyone else? The demand for GPUs is just increasing too rapidly for this to make sense.
  - j_walter 1y ago
    That will 100% never happen. Nvidia is big, but not even close to a majority of TSMC revenue or loading. Apple, Intel, Qualcomm, etc... In this case...TSMC is holding all the cards, not Nvidia
    - FuriouslyAdrift 1y ago
      Apple was TSMCs biggest customer (25%) and nVidia is 2nd (12-15%). The bigger thing being that between the two, they lock up most of the bleeding edge process capacity and leave everyone else fighting over older processes.
      - phkahler 1y ago
        But leading edge these days is like 15 to 20 percent performance or density. It's not a huge lead any more.
      - j_walter 1y ago
        You are forgetting AMD...they are up there as well (double digits %). Thats how the compete so effectively with Intel.
cogman10 1y ago
They aren't. Samsung comes in a close second in terms of tech. GloFo is also still floating around though lagging pretty bad AFAIK. Micron has it's own fabs that they are actively developing (in fact, they are building new facilities right now). What TSMC is is cutting edge. That's why everyone that needs top performance uses them.
- vonneumannstan 1y ago
  Only one in their class then.
  - scruple 1y ago
    They are now but they weren't always. I don't know much about hardware these days, I gleefully walked away from embedded development over a decade ago, but what I believe is that you don't really want to forecast to hard on any single player too far into the future.
- bryanlarsen 1y ago
  Neither Micron nor GloFo are trying to keep up with state of the art, though. AFAICT that's limited to TSMC, Samsung, Intel and SMIC.
- whatevaa 1y ago
  GloFo simply decided to stay at 14nm because beyond that, manufacturing costs actually increase, not decrease, and everybody wants the best, not second best.
deleted 1y ago
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qzw 1y ago
Samsung is still in the game at the STOA level, but a distant second. But maybe it’s the nature of the industry that one winner takes all for a number of years at the top end. After all, Intel was the only game in town for decades.

They're the only fab company in the world with the technology to allow Intel, AMD, and Nvidia to compete with each other on the playing field they do.

vonneumannstan 1y ago
Right but at some point does Nvidia use their muscle and block TSMC from making chips for anyone else? The demand for GPUs is just increasing too rapidly for this to make sense.
- j_walter 1y ago
  That will 100% never happen. Nvidia is big, but not even close to a majority of TSMC revenue or loading. Apple, Intel, Qualcomm, etc... In this case...TSMC is holding all the cards, not Nvidia
  - FuriouslyAdrift 1y ago
    Apple was TSMCs biggest customer (25%) and nVidia is 2nd (12-15%). The bigger thing being that between the two, they lock up most of the bleeding edge process capacity and leave everyone else fighting over older processes.
    - phkahler 1y ago
      But leading edge these days is like 15 to 20 percent performance or density. It's not a huge lead any more.
    - j_walter 1y ago
      You are forgetting AMD...they are up there as well (double digits %). Thats how the compete so effectively with Intel.

cogman10 1y ago

They aren't. Samsung comes in a close second in terms of tech. GloFo is also still floating around though lagging pretty bad AFAIK. Micron has it's own fabs that they are actively developing (in fact, they are building new facilities right now). What TSMC is is cutting edge. That's why everyone that needs top performance uses them.

vonneumannstan 1y ago
Only one in their class then.
- scruple 1y ago
  They are now but they weren't always. I don't know much about hardware these days, I gleefully walked away from embedded development over a decade ago, but what I believe is that you don't really want to forecast to hard on any single player too far into the future.
bryanlarsen 1y ago
Neither Micron nor GloFo are trying to keep up with state of the art, though. AFAICT that's limited to TSMC, Samsung, Intel and SMIC.
whatevaa 1y ago
GloFo simply decided to stay at 14nm because beyond that, manufacturing costs actually increase, not decrease, and everybody wants the best, not second best.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

qzw 1y ago

Samsung is still in the game at the STOA level, but a distant second. But maybe it’s the nature of the industry that one winner takes all for a number of years at the top end. After all, Intel was the only game in town for decades.