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TSMC invests in new capacity despite forecasts chip demand will ease:
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company plans to raise its capital expenditure by almost a third this year as the world's largest contract chipmaker defies analyst warnings of softening demand for technology gadgets.
TSMC expects capital expenditure to reach $44 billion this year, a 32 percent increase from the $30 billion spent in 2021 and triple the amount in 2019, the company said on Thursday.
The push underscores the outsized role semiconductors are coming to play in goods far beyond classical electronics products, from cars to factory equipment. It also reflects TSMC's dominance of global chip manufacturing.
The scale of TSMC's spending will also "put a ceiling" on ambitious plans from Samsung, TSMC's closest rival in contract chipmaking, and Intel, which has also entered the foundry business, to challenge the Taiwanese company's leadership, said Dylan Patel of Semianalysis.
[...] TSMC has built a massive fabrication plant, or fab, in southern Taiwan for advanced 3 nanometer chips, a technology level at which production is scheduled to begin later this year. It is also building a new fab for production at 5 nanometers, the most advanced technology level currently in production, in the US.
The company said the expansion was needed because demand for its chips would continue to increase by double-digit margins for years to come, even though some analysts have predicted a slowdown after a growth spurt in the past two years.
"We observe end-market demand may slow down in terms of units, but silicon content is increasing," said CC Wei, TSMC's chief executive. "So even if there's a slowdown, we believe it could be less volatile for TSMC. So we expect our capacity to remain very tight throughout 2022."
See also Tom's Hardware and a video at Bloomberg.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Frosty Piss on Monday January 17 2022, @02:30AM (14 children)
Almost certainly they are assuming correctly that China is about to TANK.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17 2022, @03:11AM (7 children)
But was it smart to build in Taiwan? If China tanks as you predict, I think the chances of aggression toward Taiwan increase--if nothing else as a smoke screen to divert attention away from domestic problems on the mainland.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday January 17 2022, @05:39PM (6 children)
China might want the economic benefits of "owning" TSMC because they regard Taiwan as part of China.
TSMC may have seen the writing on the wall and is therefore building chip fab capacity in sovereign nations such as Japan and Texas.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17 2022, @06:39PM (5 children)
> sovereign nations such as Japan and Texas.
Texas a sovereign nations, eh? I hope that was a joke!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Monday January 17 2022, @07:01PM (4 children)
It was. However at least one Texas politician is running on a platform of ceding from the union. I'm not sure, but I think ceding from the union is maybe a permanent thing in Texas. Someone with more information might be able to clarify.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17 2022, @08:21PM
I have already seceded from the union. No politicians required. Yee haw!!
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17 2022, @11:12PM
> I'm not sure, but I think ceding from the union is maybe a permanent thing in Texas.
OK, joke taken. I've been in Texas a number of times, don't recall hearing that, but it does seem possible.
However, note that George Washington wrote about this potential problem with the Union:
https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/george-washington-s-farewell-address/ [mountvernon.org]
(Original address is available, link is down a page, a blue box on the right side. Warning, the language is flowery or perhaps "formal" for lack of a better term.)
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday January 18 2022, @08:26PM (1 child)
Theoretically seceding from the union is something that Texas could have done. Doing so now, would be rather dumb.
#1 Texas Residents would need to want to do so. While there are a few out spoken people, it's not that big a thing.
#2 The United States of America would do a lot to keep Texas in the Union. Very well could be the cause of Civil War #2.
#3 The legality is pretty iffy. While the Texas Constitution may allow for it. The United States Constitution does not.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday January 19 2022, @02:40PM
This item belongs on the list of reasons why they WOULD do it, not on the list of reasons why they wouldn't.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17 2022, @03:59AM (5 children)
Financial Times seems to think that China has already tanked, just doesn't want to admit it yet?
https://www.ft.com/content/13476bf7-a519-427c-afd8-06e5579539d8 [ft.com] or try this
https://archive.is/DRXa9 [archive.is] if you hit a paywall.
The article starts by discussing a county (small region south of Beijing) called on the mat by the central government--because the county shook down all their local businesses to fund the county debt. Then it discusses the problems when 30% of the China GNP is tied to real estate development. And ends up with this house of cards that is collapsing in the wake of Evergrande's bankruptcy:
(Score: 2) by legont on Monday January 17 2022, @05:51AM (4 children)
It's a very interesting article you brought up, thank you. It appears that private companies in China are simply printing money. If it is indeed the case and not well regulated, the consequences could be huge.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by MIRV888 on Monday January 17 2022, @08:10AM (3 children)
Are you all watching a different China than I am?
Because the one I'm watching has ripped off every piece of modern military equipment.
The one I'm watching has penetrated all of our manufacturing and production processes and designs.
The one I'm watching has us by the balls because they make all our consumer goods.
Oh... and the one I'm watching keeps practicing invading Taiwan.
'accept commercial paper in lieu of cash payments' I believe those are called loans.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17 2022, @01:02PM
> I believe those are called loans.
Yes, loans, sort of. But these loans don't require a bank or other third party (which would, at least in theory) vet the credit of the borrower.
As another comment points out, when you can add your chop block (similar to "signature") to the back of a loan document and use it to pay a bill, that is a lot like printing money.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17 2022, @05:47PM (1 child)
> The one I'm watching has penetrated all of our manufacturing and production processes and designs.
Um, we (USA) gave a lot of that to the Chinese. We didn't have to move production there and accept their local-ownership rules. But the temptation of low wages and low cost manufacturing was too much for our MBAs to resist. A few companies caught on early, they noticed that as soon as a production line was set up in China, somehow, amazingly <sarcasm> identical knock-offs of the brand appeared. So the smart ones chose to keep their good stuff, the high-end high quality items, made in N. America. I know a couple of companies like this (no idea how many overall, sorry).
> The one I'm watching has us by the balls because they make all our consumer goods.
And because the Chinese factories are all making things for us (USA mostly), they are dependent on us for payment. If the USA stops ordering stuff from China, a lot of Chinese companies will fail. Eventually those companies might find markets for all their output within China and other parts of the world, but that will take years--to bring the standard of living up to that level.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17 2022, @08:23PM
not "we", but the Jews and Suited Whore race traitors.