Posted on Friday, November 09 2012 @ 21:23 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
DigiTimes
reports TSMC is seeing demand for its 28nm process picking up again. Earlier this year capacity issues forced customers such as Qualcomm to shift orders to UMC, GlobalFoundries and Samsung, but now customers are returning as TSMC has solved the capacity issues.
According to TSMC's financial forecast for the fourth quarter, revenues will show a single digit decrease compared to the third quarter. Market observers expected TSMC to see an on-quarter decrease of 15% in its fourth-quarter revenues. But due to sufficient 28nm capacity, orders have been returning and revenues are likely to be higher than expected. TSMC forecasts revenues from the 28nm process will exceed 20% in the fourth quarter.
UMC recently announced its 28nm process progress, which has been delayed due to lower than expected yield ramps. UMC noted that 28nm process gross margin has been lower than its average gross margin, and the firm originally planned to increase revenues from the 28nm process to 5% of total revenues by the end of 2012. But the firm has become conservative about the progress, and hopes that among total revenues in December, 5% will be from the 28nm process. Revenues from other processes such as 40nm will likely reach 15% of total revenues before the end of 2012, ahead of schedule, according to UMC.
