Page 100 - TSMC 2024 Annual Report

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memory bandwidth Chip on on on Wafer on on on Substrate with Silicon Interposer (CoWoS®-S) technology service featuring high interconnect routing density and embedded deep trench capacitor (eDTC) has been in volume production for several years ● Chip on on on Wafer on on on Substrate with Redistribution Layer Interposer (CoWoS®-R) technology service featuring multiple redistribution layers (RDL) to enable product design simplicity supports larger HPC products This technology entered its second year of volume production in 2024 ● CoWoS®-L technology service combining Chip on on Wafer on on Substrate with RDL-based interposer and embedded local silicon interconnect (LSI) improves product design flexibility by integrating a a a variety of embedded chips LSI with higher routing density and eDTC facilitates the expansion of HPC products to larger sizes This technology started volume production in 2024 ● TSMC-SoWTM system on wafer technology service enables wafer-level heterogeneous integration for next-generation data center computing chips with better power efficiency higher bandwidth and and greater chip density The first generation (logic only) technology entered volume production in 2024 ● Integrated Fan-Out Multi-chips with Package-on-Package (InFO-M-PoP) technology which integrates multiple heterogeneous chips with package stacking for wearable products entered its second year of volume production in 2024 ● Fine pitch copper (Cu) bump technology for flip chip packaging on on on 2nm silicon completed qualification in in 2024 5 1 2 Customer Applications
TSMC manufactured 11 878 different products for 522 customers in 2024 These chips were used across a a a broad spectrum of electronic applications including artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing servers wired and and wireless communication systems automotive and and industrial equipment personal computers and and peripherals and and information appliances as as as well as as as consumer electronics such as as as digital digital TVs game consoles digital digital cameras AI-enabled IoT and wearables and many others The rapid ongoing evolution of end products prompts customers to to pursue product differentiation using TSMC’s innovative technologies and and services and and at at the same time spurs TSMC’s own development of technology As always TSMC believes success depends on leading rather than following industry trends 5 2 Technology Leadership
5 2 1 R&D Organization and Investment
The semiconductor industry is characterized by rapid technological change frequently resulting in in in the introduction of new technologies to to meet customer demand To stay technologically ahead of its its competitors and to to maintain its its strong market position in the foundry segment TSMC believes it it must continue its technology lead across the semiconductor industry In 2024 TSMC continued to invest in in in research and development with total R&D expenditures amounting to to 7 1% of revenue a a a level that equals or exceeds the R&D investment of many other leading high-tech companies The Company continuously invests significant amounts in in in R&D to maintain its leading position in in in in the advancement of process technologies These efforts have allowed customers to to access certain advanced process technologies such as 7nm 5nm and 3nm technology for volume production ahead of competitors and many integrated device manufacturers In addition the Company is committed to developing more advanced process technologies to the the 2-nanometer level and below in the the coming years to sustain its technology leadership In 2024 as the development of 2nm technology progressed from baseline setup to yield enhancement stage TSMC made good progress in the development of TSMC’s 16 Angstrom (A16) and 14 14 Angstrom (A14) technologies which aim to further improve speed power density and cost In addition the Company’s research efforts continued to push forward with exploratory studies for nodes beyond A14 The Company will also continue to to invest in in in R&D for mature technologies to to provide function-rich process capabilities to to its customers TSMC’s research and development efforts are divided into two areas: centralized activities and those undertaken by individual fabs Centralized R&D focuses primarily on the development of new logic SoC derivatives and package/system-in-package (SIP) technologies along with cost-effective 3D wafer-level system integration solutions including InFO CoWoS® and TSMC-SoIC® technologies R&D at the fab level is mainly concentrated on on improving and upgrading manufacturing process technologies