Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s leading semiconductor foundry, is facing a surge in demand for its advanced 5nm and 3nm production lines, fueled by the explosive growth of the artificial intelligence (AI) chip market. According to a new report from Ctee, TSMC’s 5nm production lines are expected to remain at over 100% utilization throughout the first half of 2025, a period typically characterized by a slowdown in semiconductor demand. This unprecedented demand is being driven by a combination of factors, including the increasing adoption of AI chips by major technology companies and the launch of new smartphone processors by Qualcomm and MediaTek.
The report highlights that AI chip orders are the primary driver behind TSMC’s robust 5nm capacity utilization. This trend is expected to continue into the first half of 2025, defying the typical seasonal slowdown that the semiconductor industry often experiences. In addition to AI chips, the demand for TSMC’s 5nm and 3nm nodes is also being driven by the latest mobile processors from MediaTek and NVIDIA’s new B200 series AI GPUs.
TSMC is also experiencing strong demand for its advanced packaging technology, known as CoWoS (Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate). The company is expected to see CoWoS output rise to over 36,000 wafers per month by the end of 2024 and reach 90,000+ wafers per month by the end of 2025. This growth is driven by the increasing demand for high-performance computing, especially for AI applications.
The report suggests that the pressure on TSMC’s advanced packaging production capacity will peak in Q4 2024, with the supply chain indicating that NVIDIA’s new B200 series GPUs are seeing a gradual increase in production volume. By the end of 2024, an estimated 200,000 B200 chips will be produced, followed by the launch of the B300A series in Q3 2025.
The increased demand for TSMC’s advanced processes and packaging technologies underscores the rapid growth of the AI and high-performance computing markets. MediaTek’s new Dimensity mobile processors are utilizing TSMC’s 3nm process node, while NVIDIA’s B200 series AI GPUs are being manufactured on TSMC’s 5nm node. Looking ahead, NVIDIA’s upcoming B300 and B300A AI GPUs, expected in Q3 2025, will leverage TSMC’s new CoWoS-L and CoWoS-S advanced packaging technologies, respectively, further highlighting the critical role that TSMC plays in enabling the development of cutting-edge technologies.
