Heavy! TSMC All in Advanced Packaging: Reducing Production Of Mature Wafers!

TSMC slashes mature wafer production capacity!

TSMC's big move! Cut mature process production capacity by 2028! Strategic restructuring refers to the high-value track, all in advanced packaging Counterpoint said on Thursday that it expects TSMC to reduce production by 15~20% in the next three years for the 12-inch fab Fab 14 mature process in Tainan, resulting in a monthly production capacity of 50,000 wafers.

I.TSMC Capacity Optimization: Reduced Production of Mature Wafers!!

Research giant Counterpoint reported that TSMC will swing a "scalpel" on the 12-inch mature process capacity of 14 wafer factories in 2028, directly cutting the scale by 15%-20%!

This adjustment is by no means a temporary move, the core is to smash the shackles of the sluggish capacity utilization rate of traditional processes and invest resources into the explosive track of advanced packaging.

Although TSMC said it "does not comment on a single market report", it made it clear that it will fully escort customers, and admitted at the corporate briefing that it will reduce the production capacity of 8-inch wafers, and the bottom line of supporting customers will never be loosened. The driving force behind it pointed directly to the crotch pulling performance of the 40-90nm process - its excess test rate has hovered around 80% for a long time, and there is no hope of recovery to become a "drag bottle".

On the other hand, the demand for advanced packaging is blowing out, and the contrast between hot and cold forces TSMC to quickly reallocate resources, tilting clean rooms, core equipment and funds to high-value areas to achieve zero waste of strategic resources.

TSMC emphasized that this is not a decline in demand for mature nodes, but a precise slimming and combat power reconstruction of the global manufacturing ecosystem.

II. Global supplementation + internal division of labor: build a solid line of defense between supply and profitability

In order to keep customer supply commitments, TSMC launched a global capacity replenishment plan.

Japan's Kumamoto Wafer Factory (Fab23) is sprinting to increase 40/45nm and 12/16nm production capacity by the end of 2026, and is the core of the automotive and ISP supply chain; The European Dresden fab (Fab24) is steadily advancing, and equipment installation will start in 2027, aiming to form 22/28nm and 12/16nm large-scale production capacity by the end of this decade.

Some equipment of Wafer 14 will be transferred overseas to take into account asset efficiency and cost control. Its subsidiary, VIS VIS, has become the core of mature nodes, officially announcing the acquisition of TSMC's 12-inch equipment to help the Singapore base expand its 130nm-40nm process.

This layout clarifies the division of labor of the group: TSMC focuses on advanced logic and packaging to seize the technical highland; VIS undertakes the needs of mature nodes with ultimate capital efficiency, forming a high-low matching pattern.