At the same time, Chang says that technology used in the existing manufacturing processes still has room for development in the next 7 or 8 years, until the 10 or 7 nanometer solutions appear. Start of production of 10 nanometer chips in the extreme ultraviolet lithography is planned for 2015, and as an alternative to ultraviolet TSMC investigates e-beam lithography.


Changes in the roadmap and earlier production of SONFET chips is a response to the plans of competitors, especially GlobalFoundries, which starts with a 14 XM nanometerthis year and a modular architecture that combines 14 nanometer SONFET and 20 nanometer LPM process for interconnects.

Morris Chang points out that chip-on-demand manufacturers can still count on at least a 9 percent business growth this year, while TSMC specifically predicts growth of between 10 and 20 percent.

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