Pure-play foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has advised its IC design clients mainly those demanding 8-inch fab capacity to split their orders at multiple fabs, or have second-source foundries satisfy their sudden surge in demand, according to sources at Taiwan-based IC design houses.

The attempt is to discourage its fabless clients from overbooking when shipment delivery times extend, the sources continued.

TSMC continues to see its 8-inch fab supply fall short of demand, which will likely persist throughout next year, the sources said.

The emerging automotive electronics, IoT and industrial automation applications have been driving demand for MCUs, wireless/wired connectivity chips, power management ICs, I/O solutions and analog chips. Those chips all require 8-inch fab capacity.

TSMC has disclosed plans to build a new 8-inch wafer fab at its manufacturing site in Tainan, southern Taiwan to meet growing customer demand for specialty process technologies. The foundry's last 8-inch fab was established about 15 years ago.

Fellow pure-play foundries United Microelectronics (UMC) and Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) are also looking to expand capacities at their 8-inch fabs seeking to cash in on ever-increasing demand for fabricating diverse niche chips. Demand for automotive electronics and IoT chips usually fabricated at 8-inch fabs has been strong since 2018, while MOSFET and other suppliers used to rely on 6-inch fab capacity have turned to 8-inch fabs for foundry support.

By: DocMemory
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