Industry shock! All orders for TSMC 28nm equipment have been cancelled!

On April 12th, it was reported that during the semiconductor bull market of the past two years, TSMC had originally planned to expand its mature 28nm production capacity and build a new wafer factory in Kaohsiung. However, it was recently reported that due to changes in demand,The message that all orders for 28nm devices have been cancelled.

TSMC's Kaohsiung new factory was originally scheduled for mass production next year, but there have been recent market reports of changes in factory construction plans, resulting in a one-year delay in the related mechanical and electrical engineering bid. The related cleanroom and installation operations have also been postponed, and the planned list of 28nm equipment purchased by the factory has also been completely cancelled.

Regarding this news, TSMC stated that the relevant process technology and schedule are determined by customer needs and market trends, and are currently in a period of silence before the French speaking meeting. It is not convenient to make further comments and will be explained at the French speaking meeting.

TSMC's 28nm process was first mass-produced with AMD's HD 7970 series graphics cards at the end of 2011. It has been 12 years now and has contributed significantly to TSMC's revenue, reaching a peak of nearly $7.5 billion. Although it has declined in the past two years, it remains above $5 billion.

In 2021, the 28nm process still contributed $5.41 billion in revenue, with an annual revenue of $56.8 billion, accounting for nearly 10%.

If we look at the entire industry,The total market for 28nm process outsourcing is about 7.2 billion US dollars, and TSMC alone has taken 3/4 of it, which is unmatched.

The current 28nm process is no longer capable of manufacturing high-end chips, but it is still sufficient for automotive chips, IoT IoT chips, power management chips, sensors, and other chips. After all, there are still a large number of 90nm to 55nm products on the market, and there is a high demand for upgrading to 28nm in the future. Market judgment shows that TSMC is facing more severe customer order cutting than expected.