실리콘 패권의 지각변동: TSMC의 독주 체제와 거센 도전들 > K-wave Trends

The most decisive event to crack TSMC’s monopoly is Google’s choice of Intel Foundry. Recent reports indicate that Google has decided to outsource the production of over 3 million of its proprietary AI chips, the Tensor Processing Unit (TPU), to Intel by 2028. This signifies more than just a redistribution of volume; it indicates that big tech companies, which have relied entirely on TSMC, have begun their survival strategy of "supply chain diversification" in earnest. Following a preliminary agreement with Apple, Intel has now brought Google into the fold, signaling a revival of its foundry business. The market reacted immediately, sending Intel’s stock price soaring. Even if Intel is not yet at a level to threaten TSMC’s market share, the fact that it has secured a portion of the most critical AI chip production will serve as a powerful reference for attracting future clients.

Inside TSMC, separate from its technical achievements, human resource management issues are escalating into serious internal conflict. As Samsung Electronics recently reached an agreement on exceptional performance bonuses, a sense of relative deprivation has exploded among semiconductor engineers in Taiwan. TSMC employees, who have suffered under an "on-call" culture requiring 24-hour immediate response and excessive workloads, have begun to compare their treatment to that of Samsung, even mentioning the possibility of forming a labor union and going on strike. While CEO C.C. Wei has attempted to de-escalate the situation by canceling business trips to hold town hall meetings and promising bonus increases, it clearly demonstrates that TSMC’s classic management style—which emphasized "sacrifice and dedication"—is reaching its limits amidst generational shifts and global talent competition.

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics is seizing these market changes as an opportunity, playing its powerful "one-stop turnkey service" card. Samsung is pushing for the construction of an advanced packaging plant in Gwangju, making a bold move to expand its production base from the Chungcheong region to the Honam region. By putting HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) and 2.5D packaging technology—which determine the performance of AI semiconductors—at the forefront, Samsung is targeting the needs of clients who want to handle everything from design to final production in one place. This is interpreted as a strategic move to solve power shortage issues in the capital region while simultaneously exploiting the packaging supply shortages TSMC is facing, aiming to establish itself as an irreplaceable partner for big tech clients.

Changes in the semiconductor ecosystem are acting as both new opportunities and challenges for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in materials, parts, and equipment. The recent registration of BNSR, a domestic process diagnostic equipment company, as a Tier 1 supplier for TSMC headquarters is a very encouraging case. This means more than just supplying equipment; it signifies participation as a technical cooperation partner from the early stages of TSMC’s next-generation process development. The fact that a domestic company has overcome the barrier of global standards with its own technological prowess in a field previously dominated by U.S. firms proves that the Taiwan-centric semiconductor ecosystem is gradually diversifying.

Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science Park has maintained world-class competitiveness by forming a cluster where design, production, and back-end processes are tightly integrated, with TSMC as the massive central axis. However, as the massive wave of AI sweeps through, TSMC is facing a triple threat: limits in production capacity, internal labor cost pressures, and the diversification strategies of global clients. On the other hand, latecomers Samsung and Intel are tightening the reins on their pursuit, leveraging packaging technology and the efficiency of advanced processes, respectively. This competitive landscape will be a key variable in determining not just the superiority between companies, but the future direction of the global semiconductor supply chain.