To maintain and strengthen TSMC’s technology leadership, the Company plans to continue investing heavily in R&D. For advanced CMOS logic, the Company’s 3nm and 2nm CMOS nodes continue to progress in the pipeline. In addition, the Company’s reinforced exploratory R&D work is focused on beyond-2nm node and on areas such as 3D transistors, new memory and low-R interconnect, which are on track to establish a solid foundation to feed into technology platforms. For 3D IC advanced packaging, TSMC is developing innovations for energy-efficient sub-system integration and scaling to provide further augmentation to CMOS logic applications. The Company has intensified its focus on new specialty technologies such as RF and 3D intelligent sensors targeting 5G and smart IoT applications. The corporate research function, established in 2017, continues to focus on novel materials, processes, devices, nanowires and memories for the long-term, beyond eight to ten years. The Company also continues to collaborate with external research bodies from academia and industry consortia alike with the goal of extending Moore’s Law and paving the way to future cost-effective technologies and manufacturing solutions for its customers.

With a highly competent and dedicated R&D team and its unwavering commitment to innovation, TSMC is confident in its ability to deliver the best and most cost-effective SoC technologies to its customers and to drive future business growth and profitability for years to come.

Summary of TSMC's Major Future R&D Projects
Project Name Description Risk Production
(Estimated Target Schedule)
3nm logic technology platform and applications 6th generation 3D CMOS technology platform for SoC 2021
Beyond-3nm logic technology platform and applications 3D CMOS technology platform for SoC 2023
3D IC Cost-effective solution with better form factor and performance for System-in-Package (SiP) 2018-2021
Next-generation lithography EUV lithography and related patterning technology to extend Moore’s Law 2018-2021
Long-term research Specialty SoC technology (including new NVM, MEMS, RF, analog) and transistors for 8 - 10 year out horizon 2018-2026
The projects above account for roughly 70% of the total R&D budget for 2020. Total R&D budget is estimated to be around 9% of 2020 revenue.