TSMC & Global Chip Shortage with Jon Y
Fresh out of the studio, Jon Y, the founder of Asianometry joined us to discuss TSMC and the global chip shortage happening across the world. Jon Y began the conversation with an overview of the semiconductors industry with the different key players in the space from SMIC in China to Samsung in Korea. Then he dived deep into TSMC and explained why it is hard to replicate the semiconductor foundry to other parts of the world and their competitive advantage in the market. Last but not least, he examined the end of Moore's law and the future of the semiconductor industry.
"I think one of the things that TSMC does is that they tend to hit their targets. When they say they're gonna build something, they're gonna do something, they do it. I think that when you contrast that with other companies in the industry like for example, a particular company in America that says and sets a certain deadline and misses it repeatedly, that affects your credibility. TSMC has always said that they're gonna hit a certain number. It's like a pretty good chance that they'll hit it." - Jon Y
Introduction
- Jon Y, founder of Asianometry (@asianometry, Youtube)
- How did you start your career?
- What is the inspiration behind starting Asianometry?
- What are the highlights of the newsletter and youtube channel?
- In your career journey, what are the interesting lessons you can share with my audience?
TSMC & Global Chip Shortage
- To jumpstart this conversation, can you explain the chip development from start to finish? How does the chip end up in our laptops, mobile phones or even cars?
- I want to drill down to the chip shortage that has been reported. [Reference: Where the Real Chip Shortage is] Can you provide an overview of the different fabs and semiconductors in the market, specifically on their sizes, for example, UMC which specializes in the 65 to 28 nm range, reports monthly revenue growth of 35% in August 2022 and TSMC which is gunning at the frontier edge of 3nm?
- What is the landscape for semiconductors? Other than TSMC, how do we look at other companies in the space: Samsung in Korea, SMIC in China, Vedanta in India and Intel and other US chip makers now supercharged by the Chips Act in the US?
- I like your deep dive into the 3nm process where you have given a clear explanation of the technology and why it matters. Can you talk about how leading-edge semiconductor process nodes are made?
- What are the factors that are responsible for the global chip shortage?
- What can the industry do to increase the supply to meet the demand of the chip shortage just by building more fabs (or fabrication plants)? What are the tradeoffs that companies like TSMC need to make in order to increase chip production?
- I want to zoom in on TSMC because they are leading the semiconductor race. What are the key competitive advantages they have that the rest cannot replicate? One word on the street we hear is that they have talent. How about the economies of scale they have in building a gigafab? [Reference: The Economics of a Giga Fab]
- What does the current TSMC supply chain look like and can you elaborate on the inter-dependency between ASML and TSMC?
- Who are the key people in TSMC and what’s the corporate culture like in the company?
- How is TSMC performing in 2022? What are the key highlights and economic concerns on them? You have done an interesting review of them. [Reference: 2022 TSMC Update]
- What is the future of the semiconductor industry and are we close to the end of Moore’s law?
Closing
- Any recommendations that have inspired you recently?
- Jon Y's recommendations: Minions: The Rise of Gru
- Where can my audience find you?