TSMC manufactures up to 65% of chips, such dominance can be dangerous

The largest manufacturer of chipsets in terms of sales is currently the Chinese MediaTek, followed by the American Qualcomm. As the portal points out PhoneArena, so the largest contracted chip manufacturer in the world is currently Taiwanese TSMC and a large part of other world producers depend on it. This includes MediaTek.

Most of the world’s manufacturers depend on TSMC

TSMC, as a contract manufacturer, does not produce its own chips with its own logo. He receives an order for the production of a specific chip from the customer with the exact specifications and technologies he needs for its production. Its services are used by large companies such as Apple or AMD. Together with other Taiwanese manufacturers, it produced 65% of all chips in the first quarter, covering up to 56% of orders.

According to Capital Economics even this Taiwanese manufacturer dominates in the production of the most powerful chipsets on the market. Statistics show that up to 92% of top chips are manufactured by TSMC, the rest by the South Korean Samsung. Chips made by TSMC can be found in smartphones, tablets, laptops and even cars. So far, it has produced 1.4 billion chips, so you probably use one of them as well.

The US would like to increase the production of chips on its own territory

According to Wall Street Journal With a market capitalization of $ 550 billion, TSMC is the 11th most valuable company in the world. This medium also draws attention to the danger of dominance of the Taiwanese manufacturer. Not just because of the lack of chips caused by the coronavirus epidemic. Because it is based in Taiwan, which China considers its own territory under the “one China” strategy, it could become a political strategic tool.

This fact is especially risky for the USA, where the production of chips has decreased since the 1990s from 37% to 12% of world production. Apple is also dependent on TSMC, for which it installs their most powerful 5 nm Apple M1 chipset. TSMC has even booked the production of 4 nm chips and the Taiwanese manufacturer itself is also planning a 3 nm production process.

US President Joe Biden has set aside $ 50 billion this year to increase domestic chip production. The manufacturer TSMC itself began construction of a new factory for 5 nm chips in Arizona, USA, this month for an estimated $ 12 billion. It should be ready in 2024. The United States also asked the Taiwanese company to build up to six more factories in 10 to 15 years.