en.Wedoany.com Reported - Hou Yongqing, Senior Vice President and Deputy Co-Chief Operating Officer of TSMC, released a key capacity signal for the first time at the recently concluded 2026 North America Technology Forum. Hou stated that in response to the explosive demand for AI and high-performance computing, TSMC is currently accelerating its expansion plans at “double speed” compared to the past. In 2026, five 2-nanometer wafer fabs will simultaneously enter the production ramp-up phase, setting the most aggressive expansion record in history. Benefiting from this, first-year output of 2nm will be approximately 45% higher than that of 3nm at the same stage, demonstrating a significant improvement in production ramp-up efficiency. Hou also revealed that from 2025 to 2026, TSMC will promote an average of nine new fab construction or capacity conversion projects annually, doubling the speed of expansion compared to the past.
The simultaneous ramp-up of five 2nm fabs has no precedent in TSMC’s history. At the technology forum, Hou analyzed that the model of simultaneously introducing new process technologies across multiple fabs within a single year has never been seen before, indicating that AI demand has forced the supply chain into the “ultra-high-speed expansion” stage. The 2nm process officially entered mass production in the first quarter of 2026, with a yield learning curve better than that of the 3nm generation. Even with the adoption of more complex nanosheet transistor architecture, manufacturing stability has rapidly improved, showcasing TSMC’s technological leadership in advanced processes. TSMC Chairman C.C. Wei also pointed out at a previous earnings call that AI demand is extremely strong and capacity remains tight, with the supply shortage expected to persist at least until 2027.
The surge in AI chip shipments is the fundamental driver of this unprecedented expansion. Hou disclosed that between 2022 and 2026, TSMC’s wafer shipments for AI accelerators have surged 11 times, while demand for large-die chips has simultaneously increased sixfold, reflecting the continuous evolution of AI computing architectures toward higher integration and performance. TSMC’s first-quarter 2026 revenue reached $35.9 billion, up 6.4% quarter-over-quarter, with the high-performance computing platform accounting for 61% of total revenue. The company has confirmed that its 2026 capital expenditure will reach the upper end of the guidance range of $52 billion to $56 billion, and has forecast that the total capital expenditure over the next three years will significantly exceed the $101 billion spent in the past three years.
Global manufacturing expansion and advanced packaging are being simultaneously ramped up. Overseas fabs in Arizona (USA), Kumamoto (Japan), and Dresden (Germany) are also progressing with expansions. In terms of advanced packaging, 3D packaging technologies such as CoWoS and SoIC are continuously being upgraded, with the time required for mass production deployment significantly shortened. For SoIC, the deployment timeline has been compressed by 75%. Overall advanced packaging capacity is expected to grow by approximately 80% from 2022 to 2027, turning packaging from a back-end process into a critical competitive component for AI chips. TSMC is establishing the manufacturing process flow for CoPoS packaging technology, with mass production expected to begin in a few years. The next-generation A16 process is under continuous development, incorporating backside power delivery technology to meet the demanding high-performance and low-power requirements of the AI and automotive markets, with mass production expected to begin in 2028. During the North America Technology Forum, C.C. Wei also revealed that CoWoS shipments in 2026 are expected to exceed 1.1 million units.
TSMC has clearly stated that AI will drive the semiconductor industry to maintain high growth over the next decade, and that simultaneously expanding advanced processes and advanced packaging has become the company’s core strategy to address this trend. At the North America Technology Forum, Hou emphasized that “double speed” is not only TSMC’s current capacity pace, but also represents the company’s upgraded manufacturing strategy in the face of long-term AI demand trends.
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