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 7nm and 5nm CMOS nodes continue progressing in the pipeline. In addition, the Company's reinforced exploratory R&D work is focused on beyond-5nm node; in areas such as 3D transistors, new memory, and low-R interconnect, on track to establish a solid foundation to feed into technology platforms. For 3D IC advanced packaging, innovations for energy-efficient sub-system integration and scaling provide further augmentation to CMOS logic applications. For specialty technologies, the Company has intensified focus on new specialty technologies such as RF and 3D intelligent sensors targeting 5G and smart IoT applications. In 2017, a new Corporate Research function is established to focus on novel materials, process, devices, nanowires, memories, and etc. for long term horizon which is beyond 8-10 years. The Company also continues to collaborate with external research bodies from academia to industry consortia alike with the goal of extending Moore's Law and paving the road 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)
7nm logic platform technology and applications	4th generation FinFET CMOS platform technology for SoC	2017
5nm logic platform technology and applications	5th generation FinFET CMOS platform technology for SoC	2019
3D IC	Cost-effective solution with better form factor and performance for SiP	2016 ~ 2017
Next-generation lithography	EUV lithography and related patterning technology to extend Moore’s Law	2016 ~ 2019
Long-term research	Specialty SoC technology (including new NVM, MEMS, RF, analog) and transistors for 5nm node and beyond	2015 ~ 2019

The projects above accounted for roughly 70% of the total R&D budget in 2017, estimated to be around 8% of 2017 revenue.