TSMC's cutting-edge A14 chip tech to start production in 2028
The technology will advance the world's biggest chipmaker beyond its current state-of-the-art 3-nanometer fabrication and the upcoming 2-nm later this year. In a change of nomenclature, TSMC also plans an intermediary A16 chip process for late 2026.
TSMC's shares rose as much as 1.5% in early trading Thursday as Asian markets gyrated after mixed signals from the Trump administration on its plans for China tariffs.
Taiwan's most valuable company has kept up a steady pace of upgrades that's seen it corral Apple Inc. and Nvidia Corp.'s most lucrative chipmaking business. The company plans about $40 billion in capital expenditures this year, and its top executives have said its long-term plans are still geared to capture strong AI-driven demand.
At a company event in California Wednesday, executives laid out the new addition to TSMC's road map and detailed how it will help improve power efficiency and performance. Deputy Co-Chief Operating Officer Kevin Zhang said he sees an industry shift afoot: Where smartphone component makers used to be the first adopters of new production technology, the boom in artificial intelligence has made designers of larger AI chips more willing to jump to the latest innovation sooner.
TSMC remains confident that overall demand for semiconductors will continue to rise and total industry revenue will 'easily' exceed $1 trillion by the end of the decade, according to Zhang. While that's a sales target the chip industry has largely embraced, investor anxiety about an AI bubble has grown in recent weeks with the announcement of wide-ranging tariffs by the US. –BLOOMBERG
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