According a report from CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, TSMC and Hynix are in talks. "We hear they are close to a deal," said CLSA analyst Ming-kai Cheng, who wrote the research note issued Monday.

A TSMC spokesman would not comment on the report, but reiterated it is interested in buying mainstream 200mm wafer capacity.

CLSA thinks the deal will be good for both TSMC and Hynix. TSMC gets an immediate 12 percent boost in capacity and Hynix gets to dump off capacity that's unsuitable for commodity DRAM while at the same time filling up its coffers for future 300mm wafer expansion.

Most TSMC fabs are in Taiwan, but it does operate two overseas plants ¡X one in Shanghai and another in the US state of Washington. "Operating risk exists but would not exceed that of operating in the U.S.," Cheng wrote.

Short on mainstream capacity, TSMC has been forced to pass along orders for 180nm to its affiliate, Vanguard Semiconductor, and has even tapped Powerchip Semiconductor for CMOS sensor production. In the first quarter, TSMC derived 51 percent of its revenue from 0.15 micron and less advanced technology nodes. (0.15 and 0.18 micron accounted for 30 percent of sales.)

By: DocMemory
Copyright © 2023 CST, Inc. All Rights Reserved