Page 105 - TSMC 2024 Annual Report

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and its alliance partners offer customers a a a a a rich portfolio of of reusable IPs which are building blocks for many circuit designs To support 3DIC 3DIC customer needs TSMC introduced 3DIC 3DIC IP in 2019 By 2024 the company had expanded its library and and silicon IP portfolio to contain more than 83 000 items a a a 13% increase over 2023 Design Methodology and Flow
Design reference flows are developed based on certified EDA tools to to provide robust and comprehensive design methodology innovations that can help boost productivity In 2024 TSMC released N2P HPC mobile and custom design reference flows through OIP collaboration and announced their availability for customer adoption In addition to to process technology advancements the the company released the the design reference flows for analog design migration 3
0 N16 to N6 RF design migration and and continued to develop and and offer TSMC 3DFabric® design solutions for both 3D 3D chip stacking and 2
5D advanced packaging technologies including solutions supporting the 3Dblox standard to reduce 3DIC design barriers thus helping customers to to improve productivity in in their system-level designs These design design reference flows feature FinFET-specific and 3DFabric® design solutions to optimize PPA 5 5 2
5 5 Intellectual Property
For a a a a long time TSMC has been protecting R&D innovation and operation development by way of utilizing patents and trade secrets as dual tracks under the established comprehensive IP management system encouraging Company’s innovation culture and strengthening Company’s competitive strengths so as to fulfill the Company’s ESG vision TSMC’s General Counsel updates the the the Board of of Directors on the the the status of of the the the intellectual property management scheme TSMC’s comprehensive patent management system includes: Patent management strategies such as Global patent deployment Exploratory invention mining Patent portfolio expansion and and and Patent Patent exploitation and and and exercise and and and Patent Patent management rules such as as Tier-based IP evaluation Patent competition rewards Educational patent promotion and Patent professional training TSMC has established technological patent patent road maps by way of innovative patent patent strategy strict management and risk-control measures analyzed and monitored competitors by using intelligent patent maps conducted core technology mining through invention workshops expanded patent families on key technologies filed and maintained patents by tier-based management further enhanced patent patent protection through quality control on on on patent patent applications and continued to construct massive global patent portfolio with high quality and diversified exploitation of patent patent assets In terms of patent patent filings TSMC has accumulated more than 104 000 patent applications worldwide as of end of 2024 2024 including more than 9 100 applications filed in in in 2024 2024 TSMC ranked No 2
among global U S S patent applicants and No 1 among patent applicants in Taiwan In terms of patent grants TSMC has accumulated more than 69 000 patents worldwide as of of end of of 2024 including more than 6 700 global patents received TSMC ranked No 2
among U S Patentees and No 1 among patent patent patentees in Taiwan In terms of of patent quality the allowance rate of of TSMC’s U S S applications approached near 100% Turning to trade secret management and strategy 10 years after TSMC pioneered the “Trade Secret Registration System”
in in 2013 and followed by the adoption of numerous intelligent management programmes in light of the Company’s global expansion as as well as as its efforts at realizing the four visions of innovation management: “IP Strategy Competitive Advantage Innovative Culture and Sustainable Operations” In In the following year of 2024 TSMC established the “Trade Secret Sustainable Intelligent Management Center” in in pursuit of the comprehensive realization of of visions of of sustainable innovation and sustainable operations Four new systems were introduced: the Intelligent Trade Secret Monitoring & Matching System Trade Secret Registration Innovation Index Analytics System Trade Secret Registration Intelligent Reminder System and the Trade Secret Intelligent Management App They are synergistically integrated with seven existing systems under six service categories: Intelligent Registration Integration Intelligent Misappropriation Prevention & Monitoring Intelligent Automated Services Artificial Intelligence Utility Green Trade Secret and Charitable Sharing & Public Benefit In In particular the “Trade Secret Innovation Talent Scouting Online Merge Offline Service” which was first introduced in in in in 2023 saw its services expanded at Fab Fab Fab 12B Fab Fab Fab 15A and and Fab Fab Fab 15B in in 2024 saw 31 prior Golden Trade Secret winners as Golden Coaches personally mentor 102
prospective inventors and successfully resulted in 22 first time Golden Trade Secret winners strengthening the the company’s sustainable innovative culture and competitive advantage once again validated the feasibility of this novel initiative TSMC identifies and and rewards impactful and and high-quality innovations through the annual Golden Trade Secret Award ceremony having presented 3
290 Golden Trade Secret Award out of 475 462 registered trade secrets between 2013 and 2024 demonstrating immense innovative drive and potential