TSMC chief confirms R&D hiring

TSMC'S CEO Rick Tsai has confirmed the semiconductor manufacturing giant will be increasing its R&D employee headcount by 30 per cent and manpower in its design service unit by 15 per cent to drive a quick transition to 32nm in 2010 and sub-32nm by 2011.

Currently, TSMC counts 1,200 R&D workers and 600 strong in its design service workforce.

But, says Tsai, the Taiwanese fab company is apparently making giant strides towards 22nm, already having begun co-development with its equipment suppliers for multiple e-beam technology as well as more-advanced process nodes.

The firm hopes to secure a strong position in the niche markets of 65nm mixed-signal radio-frequency reference designs and 0.11-micron CMOS image sensors for the two to eight megapixel range, and it is also apparently keen to offer Through Silicon Via (TSV) tech at its 12-inch fabs by June 2009.

This represents a turnaround for the company, which had announced a hiring freeze back in December and only recently layed off 200 employees from its non-R&D units.

Last week the foundry giant also filed papers at the Taiwan Stock Exchange outlining its intent to buy 5.5 billion Taiwanese dollars worth of new fab kit from the likes of Applied Materials, ASML, and KLA-Tencor. µ