Pure-play foundry TSMC saw its R&D spending hit an all-time high of nearly US$3 billion last year.
TSMC disclosed in its annual report that R&D expenses grew about 4% on year to US$2.959 billion in 2019. The R&D spending accounted for 8.5% of the dedicated IC foundry's overall revenues last year, which came to a record high of NT$1.07 trillion.
TSMC also scaled up its R&D workforce to 6,534 employees in 2019, up 5% on year, according to the Taiwan-based foundry.
TSMC will enjoy another year of record-high revenues in 2020, when R&D spending is also set to hit another record high, market observers believe.
TSMC has estimated a 14-19% revenue increase in 2020, outperforming the overall foundry and IC market growth. TSMC also noted the foundry is striving to maintain its R&D spending to sales ratio at 8.5%.
TSMC reiterated previously that the development of its 3nm EUV process manufacturing remains on schedule, despite the coronavirus outbreak and trade tensions between the US and China. The foundry's 3nm technology will be ready for risk production in 2021 followed by volume production in the second half of 2022.
TSMC has also scaled up its 5nm EUV chip output rapidly to meet customer demand. The company expects sales generated from the process technology to account for about 10% of its total wafer sales this year.
