TSMC, the
semiconductor industry's No.1 foundry and bellwether, has called
the upturn. It plans to hire 30 per cent more process development
engineers and 15 per cent more design technology engineers.
The upturn is going to come.", Maria Marced, European president
of TSMC, told Electronics Weekly, "Q2 is going to be very
much on-track with our April guidance, and Q3 will be substantially
better than seasonality would say."
TSMC's April guidance was that it expected to see revenues up
80% in Q2 compared to Q1.
TSMC currently has 1200 process engineers, and 600 design
technology engineers who develop design flows and work with the EDA
vendors and IP suppliers to prepare new generations of
technology.
As well as boosting its process engineering headcount by 30% and
its design technology engineering headcount by 15%, TSMC has set a
capex budget of $1.5bn this year.
This will mostly be spent on TSMC's two Gigafabs - fabs capable
of over 100,000 wafers a month - Fab 12 in Hsinchu and Fab 14 in
Tainan.
Phase 4 of Fab 12 will take capacity up to 1,680,000 12 inch
wafers a year on a 40nm process, with 28nm coming into production
in the first half of next year.
The decision to boost capex and engineering strength comes from
TSMC's belief that the upturn in the semiconductor market has truly
arrived.
What are the drivers of the upturn? "Two things," replied
Marced, "first, the industry is cyclical and is ready for
recessions, and it focuses on emptying the pipeline. Now it's
filling inventories. Second, the effect of all the funding that
governments have brought to the markets."
"The Chinese government is building infrastructure -
telecommunications infrastructure - and is providing consumer
incentives, like vouchers for buying consumer good, to its
citizens", said Marced.
China has $586bn stimulus plan for infrastructure and a $123bn
plan to deliver universal health care. The consumer vouchers are
stimulating the purchase of cellular phones, digital TVs and DVDs,
said Marced.
"It's the same in Taiwan," added Marced. The Taiwan government
has spent $2.5bn on providing $100 vouchers to its citizens for
spending on consumer goods.
Who benefits? "Our Asian customers are benefitting a lot",
replied Marced, "our European customers and some American customers
are taking advantage of the opportunity."
"In Europe, in Q1, we dropped much less than the figure for TSMC
overall," said Marced, "now Europe accounts for 12% of TSMC's total
revenues. Last year it was 10%."
What is driving Europe's growth as a customer to TSMC? "The
European industry revolves around wireless ands automotive",
replied Marced, "CSR is the leader in Bluetooth; ST and Infineon
are the leaders in low-cost solutions in wireless markets; Dialog
is the leader in power management ICs for wireless. This is why
Europe has been growing. Automotive is not yet back."
See also: Mannerisms, the blog of David
Manners. Updated twice daily, it's the distinctive, entertaining,
authoritative and never dull commentary on the semiconductor
industry, from someone who knows.
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