TSMC (Remastered)

“Acquired”播客的“TSMC 重制版”一集深入探讨了台湾积体电路制造股份有限公司 (TSMC) 的历史、战略和主导地位，该公司是世界上最大的纯晶圆代工企业。主持人 Ben Gilbert 和 David Rosenthal 强调了台积电在全球科技生态系统中的关键作用，该公司为苹果、英伟达、高通、AMD 和 AWS 等主要参与者制造芯片。他们强调，台积电本质上是人工智能浪潮和现代计算领域的大部分动力来源。 本集追溯了台积电创始人张忠谋博士的一生，从他早年在中国的生活以及他在多次战争中逃生，最终移民到美国并在麻省理工学院学习工程学开始。尽管他的博士资格考试不及格，张忠谋还是加入了 Sylvania 公司，在那里他了解了半导体，然后转到德州仪器 (TI)。在那里，他开发了一种在半导体制造中实现更高良率的方法，使德州仪器成为该行业的一支主要力量。 张忠谋在德州仪器的职业生涯最终停滞不前，导致他在 56 岁时前往台湾领导工业技术研究院 (ITRI)。然后他被要求创办一家新的半导体公司，这就是台积电。最初，台积电的纯晶圆代工商业模式被认为是非常规和缺乏吸引力的。现有的芯片公司更喜欢自己制造芯片，正如那句名言所说：“真正的男人都有晶圆厂。” 然而，张忠谋预见到了“无晶圆厂”芯片设计公司的崛起，这些公司将专注于设计并将制造外包。台积电的战略是成为这些公司的制造平台，为他们提供一种经济高效的替代方案，以取代自己建造晶圆厂。这使得英伟达、高通、博通和 Marvell 等创新公司得以蓬勃发展。台积电最初是通过利用现有芯片公司的剩余制造能力起家的。 主持人详细介绍了集成电路。从晶体管开关到集成电路，集成电路使该行业能够将数十亿个晶体管封装到微小的电路中。随着无晶圆厂公司的成长，台积电的收入增加，使其能够大力投资于先进的制造技术。这创造了一种飞轮效应，更好的技术带来了更好的芯片，这使得客户能够应对更多的使用案例，从而带来更多的收入和进一步的投资。 讨论包括当时科技界的重要背景，即英特尔成立前大约十年，以及仙童和德州仪器等公司的作用。主持人还谈到了塑造该行业的关键事件，包括金属氧化物半导体的开发以及 IBM 决定与英特尔合作开发 PC 处理器而不是德州仪器，这对德州仪器来说是一个巨大的失误。 然后，播客谈到了 ARM Holdings 的成立，这是一种基于 IP 的架构，以及它与台积电作为制造商的联系，以及数字设备公司 (Digital Equipment Corporation) 的另一个分支机构 PA semi，它在所有 Apple 产品中都创建了 A 系列芯片。该播客涵盖了生产芯片的极其困难的光刻工艺。 该公司在 2000 年代初期与其他公司一起赶上了技术的最前沿，当时有 22 家竞争对手；如今只有两家，台积电和三星，而且在三纳米工艺方面可能只有台积电。2005 年，张忠谋退休，并于 2009 年回归，以把握蓬勃发展的移动设备行业的黄金机遇。现在，张忠谋在 86 岁时卸任。台积电是半导体制造领域的全球领导者。 该集还讨论了在 2013 年获得苹果的订单后，台积电最终如何与其他半导体公司一起赶上了最前沿的技术水平。台积电的地位最好。在 2000 年代初期，有 22 家公司处于领先地位，台积电最终进入了这一行列，成为 22 家公司之一。然而，如今在 5 纳米工艺方面，台积电是唯一的制造商，甚至比那时更先进，在 3 纳米工艺方面，台积电处于领先地位。台积电在整个行业中占据主导地位。 主持人讨论了如果台湾被吞并，台积电领先的制造能力会被转移回中国会发生什么。他们就各国拥有本土防御能力（而不是飞机或航母）是否是最大的国防优先事项进行了讨论。最终，该集总结说，台积电不仅仅是一家 B2B 公司，它还使软件得以存在，并且是现代技术的基础。

The Acquired podcast episode "TSMC Remastered" dives into the history, strategy, and dominance of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world's largest pure-play semiconductor foundry. The hosts, Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal, highlight TSMC's critical role in the global tech ecosystem, manufacturing chips for major players like Apple, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, AMD, and AWS. They emphasize that TSMC essentially powers the AI wave and much of the modern computing landscape. The episode traces the life story of TSMC founder, Dr. Morris Chang, beginning with his early life in China and his escape from multiple wars before immigrating to the US and studying engineering at MIT. Despite failing his PhD qualifying exams, Chang joined Sylvania, where he learned about semiconductors and then moved to Texas Instruments (TI). There, he developed a method to achieve higher yields in semiconductor manufacturing, making TI a major force in the industry. Chang's career at TI eventually stalled, leading him to Taiwan at the age of 56 to head the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). He was then asked to start a new semiconductor company, which became TSMC. Initially, TSMC's business model of a pure-play foundry was considered unconventional and unattractive. Existing chip companies preferred manufacturing their own chips, epitomized by the saying "real men have fabs." However, Chang foresaw the rise of "fabulous" chip design companies that would focus solely on design and outsource manufacturing. TSMC's strategy was to become the manufacturing platform for these companies, offering them a cost-effective alternative to building their own fabs. This allowed innovative companies like NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Broadcom, and Marvell to thrive. TSMC started by taking excess manufacturing capacity from existing chip companies. The hosts detail the integrated circuit. From transistor switches to IC, IC enables the industry to pack billions of transistors into tiny circuits. As fabulous companies grew, TSMC's revenues increased, enabling them to invest heavily in advanced manufacturing technology. This created a flywheel effect, where better technology led to better chips, which enabled customers to address more use cases, leading to more revenue and further investment. The discussion includes critical context in the tech world of that moment, before the formation of Intel, about a decade, and the role of companies like Fairchild and Texas Instrument. The hosts touched on key events that shaped the industry, including the development of metal oxide semiconductors and IBM's decision to partner with Intel for the PC processor instead of TI, a huge miss for TI. The podcast then touches on the formation of ARM Holdings, the IP-based architecture and its connection to TSMC as the manufacturer, and another offshoot of digital equipment corporation, PA semi, that has created the A chip in all Apple products. The podcast covers the incredibly difficult lithography process to produce the chip. The company caught up with the leading edge of technology with other companies in the early 2000s, there were 22 competitors; today there are only two, TSMC and Samsung, and potentially only TSMC at the three-nanometer process. In 2005 Morris retired and returned in 2009 to capitalize on Golden opportunities on the booming mobile device industry. Now Morris stepped down at 886. TSMC is a worldwide leader in semiconductor manufacturing. The episode also discusses how after getting the Apple deal in 2013, TSMC finally caught up to the bleeding edge level of technology with other semiconductor companies. TSMC was the best positioned. In the early 2000s, there were 22 companies that were at the leading edge, and TSMC finally broke into the pack and became one of the 22. However, today at five-nanometer processes, TSMC is the only manufacturer, even more advanced from that point, in the three-nanometer process, TSMC is ahead. TSMC runs the table in the whole industry. The hosts discussed what happened if TSMC's leading manufacturing capability would be transferred back to China if Taiwan were annexed. A conversation is had about if that is the biggest defense priority for countries to have an onshore capability to defend themselves as opposed to airplanes or carriers. Ultimately, the episode concludes that TSMC is more than simply a B2B company, but enables software to exist and is the foundation of modern technology.