TSMC may fully expand production capacity and accelerate market expansion

Recently, according to media reports, TSMC plans to expand its 7nm and 28nm process production capacity on the basis of its planned expansion of 5nm production capacity. In addition, TSMC may be looking to cooperate with Sony to build a 28nm fab in Japan.

From a technical point of view, through the search of the global patent database of Wisdom Buds, it is found that Taiwan semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and its affiliated companies currently have more than 66,000 patent applications in 126 countries/regions around the world, of which valid patents More than 38,000 pieces of invention patents and more than 46,000 pieces of authorized invention patents. Experts from Wisdom Bud Consulting said that, under normal circumstances, the proportion of a company’s authorized invention patents to the total number of patent applications reflects the company’s technological innovation level.

If we analyze the above 66,000 patents, we can see that TSMC’s patent layout in recent years has focused more on professional technical fields such as semiconductors, dielectric layers, integrated circuits, transistors, gate structures, memories, and electrical connections. middle.

Figure 1: Keyword cloud for TSMC patents

In addition, comparing the value of TSMC’s patents in each sub-technical field with the average patent value in the industry, the overall patent value of TSMC is much higher than the industry average. One of TSMC’s most valuable patents at present is an authorized invention patent “Solderless interconnection structure and method of forming same solderless interconnection structure and its forming method” (Publication No.: US11043462B2). And it is worth noting that this patent was filed in 2012 and granted in 2021, more than 10 years before it expires.

Figure 2: Comparative analysis of TSMC patent value and industry average

(Remarks: The data included in the Wisdom Buds global patent database includes patents that have been published in 126 countries/regions. Generally speaking, it takes 4 to 18 months for patents to be queried from application to publication)