Intel vs. TSMC: An Update

By Zvi Or-Bach, President and CEO of MonolithIC 3D
(January 22, 2014)

On January 14, 2014 we read on the Investors.com headlines page – Intel Seen Gaining Huge Pricing Advantage Over TSMC. Just three days later comes the responding headline: TSMC: We’re “Far Superior” to Intel and Samsung as a Partner Fab.

These kinds of headlines are not seen too often in the semiconductor business domain and it is not clear what the objectives are for such. It will be hard to believe that this is an attempt to manipulate the investor community, yet there are only a handful of super high volume design wins that are driving the leading edge devices, and for those wins the fight should be taking place in the ‘board’ room. So, let’s dive a bit into the details behind these headlines.

The first headline relates to Jefferies analyst Mark Lipaci releasing an analysis report stating: “Intel will have a die size and transistor cost advantage over Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) for the first time by fourth-quarter 2014, which could lead to a 50% pricing advantage in processors in 12 months, and a 66% pricing advantage in 36 months.”

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