TSMC pulled the plug on 450-mm wafers for fear of Intel

A former TSMC executive has revealed why his company reversed its position on developing chip manufacturing processes on 450-millimeter wafers. In an interview with the Computer History Museum, former COO Chiang Shang-Yi says that in 2013, he advised CEO and founder Morris Chang, until then a warm supporter, to abandon the larger slabs of silicon. After careful consideration, Chang went along with Chiang’s suggestion, pulling a vital pillar out from under the project.

Chiang’s outpourings give more color to ASML’s decision to halt the development of 450-millimeter scanners (link in Dutch). As it now turns out, that decision followed a meeting at Semicon West in the summer of 2013, in which Chiang informed ASML, Intel and Samsung that TSMC’s priority was to develop advanced semiconductor – not 450-mm – technology.