Chapter 538： TSMC's crisis

Treasure Island Province, Hsinchu City Science Park.

sunset.

In a cafe, two men in casual clothes sat at a table by the window.

The two of them seemed to be discussing some important topic, and they were sitting on their heads.

At the end of the conversation, the two stood up and shook hands.

At the entrance of the cafe, Li Ziwei watched the middle-aged man leave until the figure disappeared from sight.

He sighed softly, his lips moved, and finally left without a word.

He was born in Kaohsiung City, Baodao. He graduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering of Tsinghua University in Baodao, and then went to Stanford University to study for a doctorate. After graduation, he returned to Baodao to join TSMC.

As a talent introduced by TSMC, the salary is naturally not low, but... what makes him embarrassed is his inner choice.

The apartment he rented was nearby, Li Ziwei walked back, and stopped halfway.

He stopped in front of a small cart.

The old woman was sitting in plain clothes, and didn't stand up until she saw Li Ziwei approaching.

"Grandma, have an oyster fried, it's still the same."

"Okay, okay, I know it's going to be spicy."

"Grandma, let me tell you, this will taste better if it's spicy!"

The grandmother shook her head and just smiled.

People from Baodao are similar to those from Hu province, they don’t eat spicy food very much. Those who can eat spicy food are definitely outliers.

The reason why she can remember Li Ziwei is not only that the other party always comes to patronize, but also that the other party likes spicy food to impress her.

The round and plump oysters sprinkled on the iron plate sizzled and poured a thin Taibai slurry, which looked even more attractive.

A few slices of greens, an egg.

Finally, the sweet and sour special sauce was poured on the fried oysters that had just left the fire, and there was a beautiful crackling sound in the overflowing aroma.

Looking at the fried oysters, Li Ziwei's previous troubles disappeared immediately, and his eyes were fixed on the iron plate.

Oyster Fried Oyster is the No. 1 snack on the island's snack sales list. It was previously sought after by fans on both sides of the Taiwan Strait because of the idol drama "The Corner Meets Love". From the head of the island to the end of the island, oysters can be found everywhere, but Li Ziwei’s favorite is the oysters made by this old grandmother.

When it was about to be released, Li Ziwei suddenly asked the grandmother, "Grandma, have you ever lived in the mainland before?"

"Mainland..." The grandmother's hand suddenly trembled, as if caught in some memories.

"I lived in the mainland 49 years ago, but after so many years, my childhood memories are not very deep."

After paying the money and taking the fried oysters, Li Ziwei did not leave as usual, but pursed his lips and asked:

"Didn't you go back to look for relatives?"

"I've searched for it, but the relatives in my hometown have passed away, so I don't care about it."

"Hey, grandma, what do you think of the mainland?"

The old grandmother packed up the iron plate and muttered, "If you want me to say it, I still think it's better to be able to return early, after all, the mainland is the root, without the root, it is like a person without the backbone, so how can you be called a person? Oh."

Listening to the grandmother's words, Li Ziwei thought thoughtfully.

Thinking of the last, Li Ziwei's smile is as bright as the melting snow in winter.

"Thank you grandma, I know what to do."

Waving goodbye to the grandmother, Li Ziwei made up his mind while eating oysters.

The person who asked him out today is a middle-level manager of TSMC, and the connection is that he wants to be drawn into the other team.

This manager is said to have had some contacts with Dr. Liang Yiqing when he was still at TSMC, and Dr. Liang has now left SMIC to join Guanghua.

Compared with other provinces, Baodao people are still relatively close to Hu Province. After all, it is only separated by a Baodao Strait, and Baodao and Ludao both speak Hokkien, and even their eating habits are very similar.

People from Baodao may be unaccustomed to other provinces, but this problem will not arise when they go to the southern Fujian area of ​​Hu province.

Thinking about TSMC's current situation, perhaps leaving is the right choice.

TSMC's market value is 3.97 trillion yuan, which is a little higher than that of Fujitsu. It is the world's largest chip manufacturer and has an absolute leading position in the semiconductor industry.

It was originally planned to be launched in 2021, and it will be difficult to produce 3nm products that will enter mass production in 2022.

On the 3nm chip, TSMC still chooses fi transistor technology, while Samsung chooses gaa technology, and it has also successfully taped out, which is one step closer to mass production.

As a senior engineer at TSMC, Li Ziwei has a heavy heart.

TSMC's 3nm chips are likely to be delayed until the first half of 2023 to achieve mass production, but this will not catch up with the iPhone 14 (a16) in 2022.

As for 2nm...a delay to 2025 would be ideal.

This situation reminded him of intel10nm.

Intel was the best at the node before 10nm, but it overturned directly on 10nm, causing Samsung and TSMC to overtake in the corner.

But I didn't expect that on 3nm, TSMC also encountered the predicament of Intel.

If the optical core hadn't been born, it would have been a good threat to TSMC. After all, there are only two competitors, Samsung and Intel.

As for the mainland...

For example, SMIC has just completed the mass production of 14nm products, and the technology related to the 7nm process is still under development.

For the chip, the cost of building a factory for the research and development of the 28nm process is only $5 billion, but at the 5nm and 3nm nodes, it will cost $50 billion or more.

But whoever made the mainland come up with an optical core, as soon as this thing comes out, no matter what TSMC, Samsung, Intel, or Apple, all have to play gg!

The electronic chip meets the photonic chip It is no exaggeration to say that it is the one who takes the spear and the one who takes the ak-47.

Thinking of the last sentence said by the oyster fried grandma, Li Ziwei rubbed his handsome face.

"The development of the mainland is also very good, maybe it's time to go back."

An undercurrent is surging up and down TSMC. At present, the global chip industry is facing a shortage of chips. TSMC has internal and external troubles. Without Huaxing, a major customer, it has to rely on a shameless country.

TSMC plans to build a factory in the United States and invest 100 billion US dollars in three years.

But many TSMC employees are quite reluctant to leave Baodao for the United States, even if they go to Ludao, which has a local accent.

At this time of TSMC, Jincheng's former Lanzhou University professor Zhou Henian also fell into melancholy.

...

ps: It's still a little bit, just wait a moment.

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