TSMC 16nm capacity to triple by late 2016, 10nm ready in 2H 2016

TSMC president and co-CEO CC Wei announced the foundry expects total production capacity of its 16nm FinFET processes will triple by the end of 2016. Commercial production on the 16nm FinFET Plus (16FF+) process will initiate in the second half of this year, the 16FF+ process at TSMC has received over 20 product tape-outs, 10 of which have achieved favorable yields. By the end of 2015, this number is expected to rise to over 50.

Wei also revealed that a compact, low-power version of 16FF+, called 16FFC, is anticipated to hit volume production in the second half of 2016.

In addition, TSMC will roll out a compact, lower-power version of its 16FF+ process dubbed 16FFC with volume production scheduled for the second half of 2016, Wei noted. Compared to the 16FF+ process targeted at high-performance chip solutions, the 16FFC will be particularly for price-sensitive mobile devices, and wearable and IoT applications.

The foundry also indicated that it's entering 10nm FinFET risk production later this year, with commercial production planned for the second half of 2016.