Partner Interview
Published November 17, 2025
TSMC: Customer Switching Costs & Mature-Node Economics
inpractise.com/articles/tsmc-mature-node-economics-and-switching-costs
Executive Bio
Former VP of Foundry Operations and Technology at Analog Devices
Summary
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Interview Transcript
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In your experience, do you think it has become harder or easier, or more or less costly, to switch or second source?
Every generation, it gets more difficult. Trying to match a process from one foundry to another without too much redesign of the product is very challenging. The big high-volume companies have completely different designs with design tools for two different foundries. Taking a product already designed and trying to port it onto very advanced process technologies is nearly impossible. There are too many subtleties from one process to another that aren't even modeled in the design tools because they're second or third-order effects. You have to incorporate that upfront by designing a product for two different process technologies. This results in so many trade-offs that you end up with the net worst of all processes in terms of the product and the decisions you have to make. You design to the lowest common denominator, which doesn't take advantage of either process. It can be very difficult, which is the kind of moat that foundries have. Once they have you, you're locked in, and there's not much you can do to move a product. It's very difficult.
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