Taiwan’s Chip Industry Stays Ahead: TSMC’s 2nm Lead Shows China Still Over a Decade Behind
Recent statements from Wu Cheng-wen, head of Taiwan’s National Science Council, suggest that Taiwan’s semiconductor industry maintains a significant lead over mainland China’s. Despite claims that the gap between Taiwan and China’s chipmaking capabilities has narrowed to just three years, Wu believes the difference is more than a decade, particularly with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) progressing to 2nm chips while China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) remains focused on 7nm-class processes.
While SMIC’s second-generation 7nm-class process has advanced, it is still five years behind TSMC’s progress. Furthermore, the lack of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology in China adds another challenge to catching up in terms of power, performance, and efficiency. Since 2019, TSMC has been utilizing EUV to improve these metrics in their 7nm and 5nm nodes, giving them a significant competitive advantage.
The gap widens further as TSMC continues to develop even more advanced manufacturing technologies. Looking toward the future, TSMC plans to roll out 2nm-class chips, and by 2030, they anticipate further breakthroughs with 1.6nm and 1.4nm processes. SMIC and its partners, such as Huawei, face substantial hurdles in scaling down to similar levels without EUV.
Though other foundries in China and Taiwan—like UMC and Hua Hong—are still working with mature process technologies (28nm, 45nm, etc.), the gap between TSMC and SMIC on cutting-edge nodes remains wide. Without major breakthroughs in EUV technology, China’s pursuit of Taiwan’s semiconductor advancements may take longer than expected.
In summary, Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, led by TSMC, continues to push the boundaries of chipmaking with the development of advanced nodes like 2nm. Despite progress in China, it seems that the gap between the two remains considerable, with TSMC maintaining a decade-long technological advantage.
