The success of TSMC’s 2nm process has been so comprehensive that the company has won many of the big customers for it – Apple, MediaTek, Qualcomm, AMD and Broadcom.
Earlier this week it was reported that Intel is considering giving up trying to find customers for its equivalent 18A process.
Low yields are assumed to have been the reason why customers have shunned Samsung and Intel at 2nm which leaves TSMC unchallenged as the only foundry supplier of the node and planning to run 50k wpm by the end of this year and 120-130k wpm by the end of next year.
With a TSMC 2nm wafer said to cost $30k, TSMC looks like sucking so much money out of the market that it is difficult to see how Samsung and Intel will fund a challenge at the next 1.6/1.4nm node.
Samsung was to have spent $37 billion building fabs in Texas with the Chips Act contributing $4.7 billion plus loans and tax credits. Originally to be a 4nm fab opening in 2024, the current fab became a 2nm facility opening in 2025 which has now been put back to 2026.
The building is said to be more than 90% complete but Samsung is reported as seeing no business case for equipping it while there are no customers for its output.
