During its earnings call, TSMC proclaimed itself a 'Foundry 2.0' company to better reflect what it can offer to its customers and perhaps to defray anti-trust concerns from regulators. When it comes to self-branding, the company is also perhaps taking a page from Intel, which calls itself an integrated device manufacturer 2.0 (IDM 2.0). However, TSMC is much more than a contract chipmaker today.
"At this time, we would like to expand our original definition of foundry industry to Foundry 2.0, which also includes packaging, testing, mask making, and others and all IDM, excluding memory manufacturing," said C.C. Wei, chief executive and chairman of TSMC at the company's earnings call with analysts and investors. "We believe this new definition better reflects TSMC's expanding addressable market opportunities in the future."
