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TSMC
臺積電
A fab success
一家晶圓廠的成功之道
The smartphone boom has been a boon for a pioneer in semiconductors
智能手機的大爆發讓這個半導體行業的先鋒獲益不少
WHEN he founded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company in 1987, Morris Chang recalls,
張忠謀回憶起1987年創立臺積電之初時說道：
Nobody thought we were going anywhere.
沒人會料想到臺積電會無處不在。
Back then the rule was that semiconductor companies both designed and made chips.
當時半導體公司的業務都涉及了芯片的設計以及制造領域。
TSMC was the first pure foundry, making chips for designers with no factories, or fabs, of their own.
臺積電是第一家純代工廠商—為沒有屬于自己晶圓工廠的芯片設計公司代工生產芯片。
The doubts of others suited TSMC nicely.
所以它們的產業模式也遭受過質疑。
Mr Chang, at 82 still chairman and in his second stint as chief executive, says that meant it suffered no competition in its first eight years.
年屆82的張忠謀目前仍舊是臺積電的總裁，這也是他第二次擔任臺積電的首席執行官一職，他說正是因為這些質疑使得臺積電在創立的頭八年里所向披靡。
These days the idea is more popular.
現如今這種產業模式已經越來越受到歡迎。
Last year foundries made about half of all logic chips.
去年芯片代工廠生產的邏輯芯片已經達到全球總產量的一半。
United Microelectronics Corporation, a slightly older Taiwanese company, turned itself into a pure-play foundry in 1995.
創業時間稍早的聯電也在1995年開始轉型，專注芯片代工。
GlobalFoundries, with factories in America, Germany and Singapore, was set up in 2009.
在美國，德國以及新加坡都擁有工廠的格羅方德公司，由AMD拆分而來、與阿聯酋阿布扎比先進技術投資公司和穆巴達拉發展公司聯合投資成立的半導體制造企業也在2009年正式成立。
Yet the pioneer still dominates.
不過行業先鋒臺積電目前仍舊是業界的龍頭老大。
This year, predicts Samuel Wang of Gartner, a research firm, TSMC's revenues will exceed those of all other foundries combined.
根據咨詢公司高德納的薩穆埃爾•王預測今年臺積電的營收將會超過所有對手的總和。
He reckons it has 90% of the world market for advanced 28-nanometre chips, which are essential to smartphones and tablets.
其中對于智能手機和平板電腦來說至關重要的28nm晶圓，臺積電的全球份額達到了90%。
TSMC's sales in the second quarter, reported on July 18th, were NT156 billion, 21% more than a year before. Its net income rose by 24%, to NT52 billion.
臺積電于7月18日報道了其第二季度的營收情況：總銷售額達到了1560億新臺幣，同比增長21%。其中凈收益同比增長24%，達到了52億新臺幣。
That said, growth should slow in the second half of the year, Mr Chang told analysts, because smartphone-makers have been building up their inventories of chips ahead of new-product launches and because sales of PCs and some smartphones have been weaker than expected.
張忠謀告訴分析師，由于智能手機制造商已經建立了自己的芯片倉庫以滿足自己將要發布的新產品所需要的產能。同時，個人電腦以及智能手機的發展低于預期，故下半年芯片市場增長將放緩。
Sales could even shrink in the fourth quarter.
第四季度的銷售額可能會進一步萎縮。
TSMC has thrived on a mixture of serendipity and anticipation.
由于市場需求的旺盛以及對于行業的正確判斷，臺積電的風頭一時無兩。
The market moved in the direction in which we were heading, says Mr Chang.
對此張忠謀表示：我們的前進方向與市場一致。
The boom in mobile computing has meant a bonanza for several long-standing customers, which range from Qualcomm, an American firm that dominates the market for smartphones' application processors, to MediaTek, a Taiwanese neighbour that has burst onto the scene more recently.
移動計算機處理技術的繁榮發展讓臺積電固定了數家長期大客戶：不僅有來自美國的智能手機處理器芯片制造巨頭高通，還有臺灣的當紅小生聯發科。
Sales to Chinese designers such as Allwinner, Rockchip and Spreadtrum, whose chips power inexpensive Android tablets and phones, have doubled in the past year;
臺積電去年對稱雄低價安卓平板和手機領域的全志，瑞芯微以及展訊等公司的銷售額已經翻番。
these all license low-energy chip technology from ARM, a British firm that has been a partner of TSMC's since 2004.
這些公司都是從英國的ARM公司獲得的低功耗芯片技術授權，而ARM從2004年起就已經是臺積電的合作伙伴了。
The grand alliance of TSMC and the chip designers, as Mr Chang has called it, has done far better from the shift to mobile devices than Intel, the world's biggest chipmaker.
張忠謀所說的大聯盟在電腦終端市場向移動設備轉型過程中的表現遠遠好過世界頭號芯片商Intel。
Intel both designs and makes chips.
同時設計和制造芯片，
Its processor chips are the brains of most personal computers, but demand for these has been falling.
其生產的處理芯片是絕大部分個人電腦的核心，不過這一塊的市場需求在不斷下降。
Although Intel's newest processors are much less thirsty and the firm is determined to break into the mobile market, it has so far struggled.
雖然Intel最新的處理器不再那么地噬能，它們也打算切入移動處理器市場，不過他們將要面臨的是重重困難。
Its second-quarter revenues fell by 5% and its net income by 29%.
Intel第二季度的營收降低了5%，而凈利潤則下降了29%。
A combination of fabless designers and a pure foundry works well, Mr Chang explains,
張忠謀表示：純芯片設計商和芯片代工廠可以完美兼容，
because the designers don't have to worry about the capital-intensive part of the business any more: the foundry provides the scale.
因為設計商不用為了企業中資本密集的部分擔憂，大規模量產的工作交給代工廠就行了。
At the same time, fabless companies, of which he reckons there are about 50 with annual revenues of at least 100m, compete with one another and with IDMs.
同時，張忠謀表示：那些沒有直屬晶圓廠的公司，要面臨同行以及IDM企業的競爭。
This diverse group has in total produced more innovation than any single IDM…Just look at the mobile products, he says.
他們的設計更加多元化，其總體創造力將會超過任意一家IDM公司…看看移動芯片產品你就知道了。
The battle lines between the alliance and its rivals continue to shift.
大聯盟和它們的對手的戰線也在不斷改變。
Intel has entered the foundry business—and recently snaffled a contract with Altera, an American designer that has been a customer of TSMC's for 20 years.
Intel也切入了代工領域—他們成功地搶到了和臺積電合作了20年的老客戶—美國的芯片設計商阿爾特拉的合同。
I really regret that very much, Mr Chang says. I had an investigation into why that happened.
對此張忠謀非常懊惱，并表示要好好調查一下這一切發生的根源。
On another front, TSMC is fighting Samsung.
另一邊，臺積電與三星也在激烈鏖戰。
The South Korean company makes processors not only for itself but also for Apple, even though the two are deadly rivals in smartphones and tablets.
這家韓國公司不僅為自己生產處理器，他們還供貨給蘋果公司。
In addition it is the world's biggest maker of memory chips.
同時，三星還是世界上最大的記憶芯片制造商。
Recently the Wall Street Journal reported that TSMC, after years of effort, had won a contract to make chips for iPhones and iPads—a victory that will have stung Samsung.
最近，華爾街日報報道了臺積電經過一年的努力獲得了為iPhones和iPads代工芯片合同的消息，這讓三星郁悶不已。
Mr Chang says that he takes neither Intel nor Samsung lightly, but insists: We have one big advantage: we are a pure foundry. We do not compete with our customers.
張忠謀表示他不會小瞧Intel和三星，但是他堅持他有一大優勢：他就是代工廠，他不會與他的客戶競爭。
No matter how hard Intel and Samsung try, he says, they will not enjoy the same trust.
無論Intel和三星怎么努力，他們都不會獲得客戶的信任。
The big question hanging over TSMC is whether it can find a worthy successor to its octogenarian boss.
臺積電所面臨的大問題是他們能否為他們年過80的老板找到合格的繼承人。
It has had one false start already:
此前他們已經有過失敗的經歷：
he stood down as chief executive in 2005, but took the helm again in 2009.
張忠謀曾在2005年卸任首席執行官一職，不過在2009年再度上任。
No handover is planned yet,
目前，還沒有制定任何交接計劃，
but last year three men were appointed co-chief operating officers.
不過去年有三位管理人被任命為聯合首席運行官。
Probably at least two of these, or maybe all three, will end up as joint chief executives.
很可能至少三人中的兩人—也可能是全部三人，最終成為聯合首席執行官。
A menage a trois could prove farcical. But perhaps TSMC's board thinks its founder is too good an act for one man to follow.
三頭執政實在是有點荒誕，不過這也許是因為董事會考慮到他們的創始人實在是太成功了，以至于光靠一個人的努力是無法成為合格的繼承者的。
