TSMC to Double 16nmFF+ Chip Production

After the recent Taiwanese earthquake, many Nvidia and AMD watchers may have worried about their upcoming Pascal and Polaris GPUs. While TSMC did eventually reveal that there would be a hit to their chip production, especially 16nm, it seems like things should be fine. According to the latest reports, TSMC is planning to double their 16nm wafer production from 40,000 per month up to 80,000 per month.

While this number may still be slightly depressed due to the earthquake, it does mean TSMC is taking in more 16nm orders and is able to supply them. Nvidia is relying on TSMC to supply them with 16nmFF+ GPUs for use with Pascal which is set to launch later this year. A ramp up now would mean the a mid-2016 launch for the earliest Pascal chips, right in line with rumours. For AMD, TSMC will play a lesser role as Polaris may be using GlobalFoundries 14nmLPP exclusively.

One snag in the above analysis is that these maybe Apple A10 SoCs. Apple has been moving away from Samsung as their main chip supplier and Apple may be starting to ramp up iPhone SoC orders. Either way, the fact that 16nmFF+ is doing well means the earthquake likely won’t affect chip supply and prices.