It is evident from the supply chain that global logistics and personnel movements have been significantly disrupted by the novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) epidemic and the supply of equipment has also been affected. As a result, this has forced the postponement of the 3nm trial production by TSMC while the original schedule for the machine installation in June has been postponed to October. Therefore, the trial production at plant 18 in the Southern Taiwan Science Park will likely be delayed for at least one quarter.

        According to the supply chain assessment, TSMC initially planned to conduct the trial production with the 3nm process before the end of this year but this plan has been postponed until early next year. However, mass production for the 3nm process should still be completed as previously scheduled in 2022. TSMC has always abstained from commenting on rumors concerning the status of manufacturing processes and orders.

        Institute investors described that TSMC's current winning product is 7nm and the most noticeable 5nm this year. Even if 3 nm can be mass-produced in 2022 as expected, it won't exert much impact on short-term performance. However, its rival, Samsung, is placing major bets on 3nm to catch up with TSMC. So, if TSMC has to delay its trial production for 3nm, it should add significant tension to the struggle between the two major competitors.

        3nm is considered the largest investment ever in the semiconductor industry and is also the crucial component in the competition for the leading hegemony.

        TSMC has invested over NT$1.5 trillion on the 3nm project in Taiwan while laying the foundation for Taiwan to become the hub of semiconductors and, therefore, the center of the global industrial manufacturing. Most importantly, it should assist in setting off a strong clustering effect.

        However, Samsung has strived with unceasing attempts to catch up with TSMC. Currently, Samsung has significantly lagged behind TSMC in terms of 14nm and then at 10nm and 7nm, in which it also significantly fell behind TSMC. As such, Samsung decided to skip 5nm and close the gap with TSMC regarding the 3nm process. Samsung plans to invest as much as US$116 by 2030 to create a domain for non-memory semiconductors.

        Given Samsung’s catch-up attempts, TSMC is not afraid to fight any challenge since it has already achieved overwhelming success for 5nm and has embraced almost all customers that can participate in the 5nm process throughout the year, including Apple, Hisilicon, AMD, Qualcomm, and others. In fact, these customers will also include semiconductor factories that can take part in 3nm competition in the future.

        Moreover, TSMC has always maintained a low profile regarding its 3nm project and has only revealed information that the timing of mass production should be in 2022 during several investor conferences but never disclosed its technical specifications. (News source: Economic Daily News)​