Taiwan's TSMC May Outdo Intel in Capex Expenditure Soon

While Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) projects its capital expenditure for 2015 to exceed slightly US$10 billion, Intel Corp. executives disclosed in a business analyst conference to lay out capital expenditure of around US$10.5 billion in 2015.

Industry executives note such  figures show the closet gap between the two major  chipmakers' capex investment, with some even predicting TSMC to outdo Intel soon.

TSMC estimates its 2014 capital expenditure at US$9.6 billion or so, behind Samsung Electronics' US$11.5 billion and Intel's US$11 billion.

The Taiwanese chipmaker is building its Fab14 Phase 6, Phase 7 and Phase 8 in Southern Taiwan Science Park to add capacity for 16nm Fin Field Effect Transistor process, to make Apple A9 microprocessors.

Industry executives believe capital equipment suppliers to inevitably benefit from ever rising capex expenditures among globally leading chipmakers. (KL)