TSMC VP Says ‘I Don’t Care If Moore’s Law Is Alive or Dead’ If Technology Keeps Growing — 3D Chip Packaging Fuels Continued Advancements

Moore’s Law once stated that the economics of the semiconductor market are based solely on transistor density with little regard for power. However, as applications have evolved, chipmakers have focused on power, performance, and area (PPA) improvements to continue the steady march of progress. In an interview, Dr. Kevin Zhang, head of process technologies at TSMC, told Ian Cutress on the TechTechPotato YouTube channel (transcript here ) that he’s not worried about Moore’s Law as long as overall progress continues.

“Well, my simple answer is — I don’t care,” Kevin Zhang told Ian. “As long as we can continue to drive the scale of technology, I don’t care if Moore’s Law is alive or dead.”

[36] TSMC Tech Interview: A16 Node, System-on-Wafer and High-NA – YouTube

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Indeed, TSMC’s strength is its ability to introduce a new process technology every year and deliver the performance, power, and area (PPA) improvements its customers are looking for. Apple has been TSMC’s alpha customer for about a decade, which is why the evolution of TSMC’s process technologies is so well described by the evolution of Apple’s processors.

However, when you look at TSMC’s capabilities beyond Apple’s processors, you’ll notice AMD’s Instinct MI300X and Instinct MI300A processors with AI and HPC capabilities. Both products make extensive use of TSMC’s 2.5D and 3D integration and are perhaps the best examples of the foundry’s capabilities.

Indeed, TSMC and its customers are focused on 3D scaling.

“[Observers] Moore’s Law narrowly defined based on two-dimensional scaling — that’s no longer the case,” Zhang said. “Looking at the innovation hype in our industry, we actually continue to find different ways to integrate more functions and capabilities into smaller form factors. We continue to achieve a higher level of performance and a higher level of energy efficiency. So from that perspective, I think Moore’s Law, or technology scaling, will continue.”

When asked about TSMC’s success with incremental process node improvements, Kevin Zhang clarified that its advancements are far from small. TSMC highlighted that foundry transitions from 5nm to 3nm class process nodes result in PPA improvements exceeding 30% per generation. TSMC continues to make smaller but continuous improvements across key nodes to enable customers to reap the benefits of each new generation of technology.