AMD will become TSMC’s largest 7nm customer in the second half of 2020, according to Apple Daily’s supply chain sources. The change of order comes as a result of higher orders from AMD and Apple moving to 5nm for its A14.
Apple Daily reports that TSMC’s 7nm wafer capacity will be 110,000 wafer starts per month (WPM) in the first half of 2020. TSMC’s Top 5 would consist of Apple, HiSilicon (who is starting to ship to external customers), Qualcomm, AMD and MediaTek.
In the second half of the year, TSMC’s capacity would increase to 140,000 WPM and AMD’s orders would double (although it was not specified compared to which period). With that, AMD would become TSMC’s largest 7nm customer as Apple moves to 5nm. This also implies that AMD would jump over HiSilicon and Qualcomm.
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In numbers, AMD would consume 21% share of TSMC’s 7nm wafer capacity with 30,000 WPM. HiSilicon and Qualcomm would be responsible for 17-18% share and MediaTek for 14%. This would leave 29% of TSMC’s 7nm capacity to the rest of its customers.
7nm is expected to account for 25% of TSMC’s 2019 revenue. With the addition of 5nm, TSMC’s 7nm and below revenue is expected to account for 35% of its revenue in 2020. Besides Apple, Bitmain and Canaan are also jumping to 5nm.
Samsung is also investing heavily in its foundry business, and Apple Daily reports that it has a 7nm production capacity of 150,000 units. Samsung's 7nm uses EUV. TSMC's 7nm+ also uses EUV, but is expected to be small in volume until AMD ramps its Zen 3 products.
