TSMC’s co-CEO, CC Wei, has said that the company will begin volume production of 16nm FinFET process products in Q2’15, or early Q3’15. In tests, these chips have shown that processor speeds can reach as high as 2.3GHz, with power consumption down to 75mW. Wei made the comments at a recent investors’ conference (see Finance Results in this issue)..
Wei said that sales of 16nm process products are expected to represent between 7% and 9% of TSMC’s total revenue in Q4’15. There are apparently now more than 60 clients seeking 16nm solutions. However, the “real volume” is not expected to be reached until 2017, said co-CEO Mark Liu.
TSMC has also begun to tape out 10nm process products, Liu said. Commercial production is slated for 2016. Ten clients have so far joined the development and design of the 10nm process.
