TSMC Boosts Capital Expenditure Budget on Strong Outlook

By Alan Patterson, EETimes (January 17, 2021)

TAIPEI — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) has nearly doubled its capital expenditure budget for 2021 to as much as $28 billion on expectations of strong growth during the next few years.

In 2021, the world’s biggest chip foundry expects to invest between $25 billion and $28 billion in capex, compared with $17.2 billion last year. Out of this year’s budget, the company will allocate about 80% for its advanced process technologies, including 3nm, 5nm and 7nm. About 10% will go to advanced packaging and mask-making and the remaining 10%, for specialty technologies.

TSMC said the capital investment is aimed at higher growth opportunities underpinned by multi-year megatrends. Starting from 2021, high-performance computing (HPC) will become a new growth driver coming from big customers in a variety of market segments, according to the company. Another factor driving confidence is that 5nm demand is stronger than expected, TSMC said in a conference call with analysts on Thursday this week.

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