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first_img Major manufacturers increase orders, TSMC's 2-nanometer monthly production capacity is expected to reach 120,000 wafers by the end of the year

According to the Economic Daily, major companies such as Apple, NVIDIA, AMD, Qualcomm, and MediaTek are racing towards AI and high-performance computing, recently increasing their orders for TSMC's 2-nanometer family capacity by 10% to 20%. As a result, TSMC is accelerating the expansion of its 2-nanometer family, with progress exceeding expectations. TSMC has consistently refrained from commenting on customer information and market rumors.The market originally estimated that TSMC's monthly capacity for the 2-nanometer family would be around 90,000 to 100,000 wafers by the end of this year, with expectations for continued double-digit growth to reach 110,000 to 140,000 wafers by 2027. Industry sources indicate that due to strong customer demand, the monthly capacity is expected to surge to 120,000 wafers by the end of this year, achieving the originally set 2027 target ahead of schedule. Sources say that in response to the demands from Apple and non-Apple customers, the speed and scale of new capacity for the 2-nanometer family are setting new records, far exceeding the ramp-up speed of the 3-nanometer family in its first year.TSMC's Senior Vice President and Co-COO, Wei Chen-Hao, stated at this year's North America Technology Forum that in response to strong demand from AI and other sectors, there will be five 2-nanometer fabs ramping up simultaneously for the first time this year, including two in Hsinchu and three in Kaohsiung; the wafer output in the first year of 2-nanometer will increase by 45% compared to the first year of 3-nanometer in 2023; the compound annual growth rate of 2-nanometer capacity from 2026 to 2028 will reach 70%. TSMC's 3-nanometer capacity in the Southern Taiwan Science Park is expected to reach nearly 180,000 wafers per month in the fourth quarter of this year, and three new 3-nanometer fabs are being established in Taiwan, Arizona in the United States, and Japan. The second fab in the United States is planned to begin mass production in the second half of 2027.

first_img Analysis: 1b DRAM unit area value exceeds TSMC 2 nanometers

Semiconductor analysis firm Kernel Insight: Demand for artificial intelligence drives DRAM prices to maintain historical highs, with the unit area sales value of the latest process DRAM exceeding the wafer prices of TSMC's N2 and N3. The firm estimates TSMC's 300mm N3 wafer price at $20,000 and N2 at $30,000, translating to nominal prices of approximately $0.283 per square millimeter and $0.424 per square millimeter, respectively, not accounting for edge losses, cutting losses, yield, and defects.Based on a price of $1.50 per Gb and generational bit density calculations, 1y DRAM is $0.329 per square millimeter, 1z is $0.410 per square millimeter, and 1b is $0.654 per square millimeter, more than 50% higher than N2. The 10nm process gradually shrinks in the order of 1y, 1z, 1a, and 1b. The above prices per Gb assume they are close to spot prices; DRAMeXchange data shows that on September 21, the average transaction price for 16Gb DDR5 eTT chips was $24.80, approximately $1.55 per Gb.There are differences in comparison metrics. TSMC's figures represent the wafer foundry prices paid by customers, while the DRAM figures represent the total sales potential of finished products and do not include advanced packaging costs; TSMC's actual supply prices will vary with order volumes and contracts. DRAM metrics are based on small spot prices, differing from the long-term contract prices of Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron's revenue entities. Recently, non-public fixed trading prices have strengthened; if they have not yet fully reflected in spot prices, the leading margin of wafer unit prices for memory manufacturers may be even greater.

first_img Samsung Electronics plans to expand production of 4-nanometer to meet HBM4 demand

According to Money Today on September 21, Samsung Electronics is advancing the expansion of advanced process capacity in wafer foundry due to the growth of the HBM market. To meet the rising demand for HBM4 base chips, it is evaluating the expansion of its 4-nanometer process. Samsung's HBM4 consists of 10-nanometer 6th generation (1c) DRAM core chips and 4-nanometer logic base chips, with the base chips responsible for high-speed data exchange with AI accelerators such as GPUs.Unlike SK Hynix, which uses TSMC's 12-nanometer process for HBM4 base chips, Samsung employs its own 4-nanometer process. This production line is operating at full capacity and has taken on orders from companies like Nvidia and Groq for 3 LPU, and the company has recently raised its prices for new 4-nanometer orders and HBM4 base chips. Samsung expects HBM4 revenue in the third quarter to increase more than threefold quarter-on-quarter, with HBM4 accounting for significantly more than 60% of HBM revenue in the second half of the year. The additional expansion at P4 in Pyeongtaek will mostly be used for 1c DRAM for HBM, with more than half of the wafer foundry's 4-nanometer capacity allocated to HBM4 base chips.HBM4E also uses 4-nanometer base chips, and Samsung provided samples to customers in May. The company is also evaluating the construction of a new 2-nanometer production line for HBM5, aiming for a GAA structure 2-nanometer process and increasing TSV density to improve operating speed by more than 50% compared to HBM4E. Samsung started the first generation of 2-nanometer mass production in the second half of last year and is advancing the second generation of products in the second half of this year. Citigroup expects global HBM bit demand to reach 75.2 billion Gb next year, a year-on-year increase of 62%, with supply around 59.4 billion Gb and a gap of about 21%.

Vans attributed the data center protests to power shortages, stating that electricity in the United States should be cheap enough not to require metering

U.S. Vice President JD Vance stated at the All-In Summit that U.S. AI data centers are facing increasing opposition, largely because the power supply has not kept up. Residents see data centers being built continuously while their electricity bills are rising, which naturally leads to backlash. He believes the solution is not to build fewer data centers but to increase power generation capacity accordingly.Vance mentioned that the U.S. has not built enough power facilities in the past generation, and in the future, it should pursue a state where "electricity is so cheap that it doesn't need to be metered." He also compared this to China, arguing that the slow growth of power generation in the U.S. in recent years has already affected the development of new industries like AI. "So cheap that it doesn't need to be metered" is an old slogan from the history of U.S. nuclear energy. In 1954, Lewis Strauss, the chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, used it to describe the era of cheap electricity brought by atomic energy.The IEA estimates that data centers will contribute to about half of the new electricity demand in the U.S. by 2025; the U.S. Congress is also advancing legislation this week to try to prevent the costs of expanding data centers from being passed on to ordinary households.

first_img TSMC 3/2 nanometers and CoWoS remain tight, AWS and MediaTek's capacity allocation has changed

As we enter the late third quarter of 2026, TSMC's 3nm and 2nm advanced process and CoWoS advanced packaging capacity continue to be in high demand. NVIDIA and Apple continue to dominate the resources for advanced processes and packaging; Amazon AWS's Annapurna has recently increased its AI self-developed chip production, securing more 3nm capacity. MediaTek, in addition to mobile chips, is also competing for 2/3nm process and CoWoS-S/L capacity with large orders related to Google TPU.There are reports that TSMC has recently readjusted its capacity allocation. After MediaTek secured a large order from Google TPU, the next-generation TPU v9 will simultaneously use TSMC's CoWoS-L and Intel's EMIB-T, which has slightly adjusted MediaTek's 3nm and 2nm capacity arrangements. Currently, TSMC's main customer for 3nm is NVIDIA, which is expected to surpass Apple to become the largest customer by 2025; the demand for 2nm is primarily from Apple and others. After AWS increased Annapurna's production, its 3nm and CoWoS configuration priority has improved.Starting in early 2026, TSMC will accelerate capacity expansion, with the 2nm monthly capacity of Hsinchu Baoshan Fab 20 and Kaohsiung Fab 22 reaching 50,000 wafers each by the end of October, totaling about 100,000 wafers; by the end of October, the monthly capacity for 3nm in Tainan Science Park is about 185,000 wafers. As of the end of September, the overall capacity utilization rate is about 96.2%, with 100% utilization for processes below 16/12nm down to 2nm. The shortage of CoWoS supply has driven advanced packaging orders to overflow, with the priority for orders going to ASE Group's Siliconware Precision Industries first, followed by Amkor, and Chipbond, among others. Chipbond's related testing and packaging capacity is fully loaded, with order visibility extending to 2028.

first_img TSMC's 1.4 nanometer factory in the Central Science Park is accelerating fully, with mass production expected in the second half of next year

The Central Science Management Bureau confirmed on the 9th that TSMC's Central Science Phase II 1.4 nanometer factory expansion is fully accelerating. The first P1 factory has completed its steel structure and is expected to begin trial production in April next year, with mass production anticipated in the second half of next year, ahead of the originally scheduled mass production in 2028. TSMC has applied to the Central Science Management Bureau to set up two temporary offices at the site, which are expected to be completed in April next year, with the first batch of over 5,400 operational and outsourced personnel moving in.The advanced process new factory for TSMC's Central Science Phase II park broke ground last October, planning to build four 1.4 nanometer factories, with nearly 2,000 workers working day and night. The P1 factory is currently undergoing floor and exterior wall construction, with the factory building expected to be completed early next year. The P2 factory has begun basic construction and is scheduled to be completed in October next year, with both factories expected to start mass production successively next year. The P3 factory has obtained a construction permit, while the P4 factory is in the process of applying for a construction permit, planning to be built with a six-month gap. P3 is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2028, and P4 is scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of the same year. After the P2 factory is completed in the second half of next year, an additional 1,000 operational personnel will be added, with the total number of employees expected to be between 9,000 and 10,000 when all four new factories in Phase II are completed and put into production.

first_img Samsung Taylor Semiconductor Fabrication Plant will begin trial operations at the end of this month, with 2-nanometer orders already filled

According to South Korea's "Cultural Daily," Samsung Electronics' wafer fab in Taylor, Texas, is expected to enter trial operation around the end of this month, as orders for 2-nanometer chips from Tesla, Broadcom, Arm, and others continue to pour in, with pre-production capacity nearing full load. The plant has accumulated an investment of $37 billion since 2022, with plans to begin trial operation early next month and mass production next year, with an initial monthly capacity of about 50,000 wafers, close to TSMC's approximately 80,000 wafers.The report states that the Taylor plant will produce Tesla's next-generation artificial intelligence chip AI5, Broadcom's new generation communication chips, and Arm's smart device AI chips, among others. Samsung's 2-nanometer yield has increased from about 60% earlier this year to around 80% recently. The company sent personnel for process, equipment, and yield to the plant in June, and began installing equipment in July. At a recent earnings meeting, Samsung projected that this year's 2-nanometer order volume would more than double compared to last year, and stated that NVIDIA's inference chip Grok3 began mass production last month; Samsung also recently raised the foundry price for 4-nanometer chips by up to 15%.The second Taylor plant is scheduled to start construction by the end of this year and begin mass production in 2030. Samsung has requested major partners to complete the relevant production equipment safety certifications in advance, and some partners are considering sending dozens of personnel to the local area. At the same time, Intel issued about $20 billion in new shares last month and expanded investments in 2-nanometer level 18A and 1.4-nanometer level 14A, while Japan's Rapidus completed its 2-nanometer factory in Hokkaido last month and entered the wafer trial production stage.

first_img Samsung's 4-nanometer production capacity is more than half used for HBM4 substrate chips

Samsung Electronics' wafer foundry division has recently surpassed 50% in the allocation of production capacity for the sixth-generation high bandwidth memory HBM4 substrate chips in the 4-nanometer process. The industry states that this division will invest more than half of its 4-nanometer wafers into HBM4 substrate chip manufacturing in the second half of this year to expand supply to companies like NVIDIA, Broadcom, and AMD.Samsung initiated mass production and shipment of HBM4 in February this year and plans to increase supply starting from the third quarter, significantly increasing the related wafer input since mid-year. This chip is based on Samsung's wafer foundry 4-nanometer (SF4) process. As of last month, over 50% of its total 4-nanometer capacity has been allocated to HBM4 substrate chips. According to insiders, Samsung's 4-nanometer process is currently at full capacity, with HBM4 substrate chips accounting for about 50% to 60%, and this high proportion will be maintained in the second half of the year.Samsung's wafer foundry production lines at Pyeongtaek Plant 2 and Plant 3 are mass-producing processes ranging from 4 to 7 nanometers, with a monthly capacity of about 30,000 wafers for the 4-nanometer process. Based on this, the wafer input related to HBM4 substrate chips is estimated to be about 15,000 wafers per month. During the second quarter earnings call, Samsung stated that it expects HBM4 revenue to increase more than threefold quarter-over-quarter in the third quarter, with HBM4 revenue in the second half expected to exceed 60% of the company's overall HBM revenue.

first_img Tesla Cybercab launched in the United States, with no steering wheel and pedals costing 0.84 yuan per kilometer

On September 3 local time, Tesla held a Cybercab launch event in Austin, Texas, USA. This vehicle is a mass-produced model designed for autonomous driving scenarios, eliminating the steering wheel, pedals, and traditional rearview mirrors, and adopting a two-seat layout, with driving entirely controlled by Tesla's autonomous driving software. The Cybercab was unveiled as a concept car at the "We, Robot" event in October 2024, with the first mass-produced vehicle rolling off the line at the Texas Gigafactory in February this year, and mass production starting in April, taking about 18 months from concept to mass production.The vehicle relies on 8 high-definition cameras to perceive the environment and makes driving decisions through an end-to-end neural network, without relying on lidar and high-precision maps. According to Tesla's data, as of September 2026, the global fleet's cumulative assisted driving mileage has exceeded 22.5 billion kilometers. In terms of energy efficiency, it is expected to travel 9.8 kilometers per kilowatt-hour, with an energy consumption of about 10.2 kilowatt-hours per 100 kilometers. The curb weight is 1412 kilograms, equipped with a 47.6 kilowatt-hour battery pack and a 163-kilowatt motor, with a laboratory range of 673 kilometers. After scaling up ride-hailing operations, the cost per mile can be reduced to $0.2, equivalent to about 0.84 yuan per kilometer.The Cybercab will be showcased in multiple cities such as Beijing and Shanghai starting in mid-September. This exhibition does not involve the sale of the vehicle in China, nor does it represent that Tesla will conduct autonomous ride-hailing commercial operations domestically.

first_img Tencent Hunyuan releases and open-sources Hy4 preview, with a total of 770B parameters and 49B activated

Tencent Hunyuan has released and open-sourced the next-generation large language model Hy4 preview. This model has a total of 770B parameters and 49B active parameters, with a context length exceeding 1M. It demonstrates strong capabilities in real productivity tasks such as coding, office work, and science, firmly placing it in the top tier of open-source models. Hy4 preview significantly expands in model size, context length, and data scale, and enhances real-world performance through high-quality data co-built with Tencent experts in software engineering, gaming, finance, security, and deep collaboration with products like WorkBuddy.In software engineering, the model enhances understanding, planning, debugging, and verification capabilities for long-range development tasks, enabling the construction of complex front-end projects like a Three.js miniature town from scratch. In game development, it supports generating playable prototypes from a single sentence and can complete a full demo in Unity. In smart office applications, it can handle complex financial audits, filtering, analyzing, and delivering from multiple documents. In scientific research, it achieves acceleration in tasks such as molecular dynamics simulations and has initially formed a recursive self-improvement feedback loop.Hy4 preview can be experienced in Tencent products such as WorkBuddy/CodeBuddy domestic and international versions, Yuanbao, ima, and can also be accessed via API calls through Tencent Cloud Tokenhub and OpenRouter. WorkBuddy/CodeBuddy will launch a limited-time free activity for two weeks. Since the reconstruction of the infrastructure, the Hunyuan large model has iterated a major version approximately every two months, continuously optimizing through a preview-first and formal version-following approach.

first_img Apple M6 uses TSMC 2 nanometers, advanced packaging demand drives the Taiwan supply chain

Apple's first 2-nanometer M6 chip officially debuts, equipped with a 12-core CPU, 12-core GPU, and dual 16-core neural network engines, with unified memory bandwidth reaching up to 170GB per second, initially featured in the new Mac mini. This chip is manufactured by TSMC using a 2-nanometer process and is the first to adopt gate-all-around (GAA) nanosheet transistors, making it the world's first consumer-grade 2-nanometer chip.The supply chain is focused on the subsequent high-end M series packaging architecture. Based on the Fusion Architecture of the previous generation M5 Pro, M5 Max, and the four-die design of M5 Ultra, Apple chips have transitioned from a single large die to a modular design. Future M6 Pro, Max, or Ultra are expected to enhance advanced packaging requirements such as SoIC-MH and WMCM, increasing interconnect density with SoIC-MH and integrating logic, LPDDR memory, and high-speed I/O with WMCM.TSMC is actively preparing for expansion, with Zhunan AP6 as the main mass production base for SoIC, Longtan AP3 upgrading to WMCM, and Chiayi AP7 taking on related capacity. Analysts estimate that WMCM's monthly production capacity will reach about 60,000 units by the end of 2026 and over 120,000 units in 2027. Equipment manufacturers such as Hongshuo, Junhua, Yinneng, and material manufacturers Changxing, Xinying Materials, and Yongguang are expected to benefit.
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