Additionally, the re-write of the industry mindset in the last 10 years has seen the rise of the fabless semiconductor companies who now provide product design and development, but partner with foundries like TSMC to get actual silicon delivered to their customers. Ross said these trends are all part of the dis-aggregation of the semiconductor industry, a term used by many to characterize the changes.

Although distinctly company-centric, Ross' presentation offered an informative — if somewhat idealized — model of how foundries fit into today's global semiconductor eco-system. TSMC has been admittedly aggressive in capitalizing on opportunities to provide services and partnering at many levels in that eco-system.

As well as manufacturing capability, TSMC's current offerings include, according to Ross, design services partitioned into various alliances with product and strategic partners: the IP Alliance providing the "largest catalog of silicon-verified IP" in the industry, the Library Alliance which includes seven different third-party library providers, the EDA Alliance with "all the major tool suppliers" in design automation, and the Design Center Alliance providing "extensive arrangements with a range of design houses."

Ross said that TSMC's 5-Star IP Alliance reflects the importance of design reuse in facilitating today's large complex designs and defines IP at the 1-star level for "simulation proven," at the 3-star level for "works in TSMC silicon," and at the 5-star level for "production proven" design blocks. "It's important to enhance IP qualification," Ross said, by promoting standards from the Virtual Socket Interface Alliance (VSIA), collaborating with the Virtual Component Exchange (VCX) to help manufacturers reduce the cost of reusing IP, and by establishing best practices in tagging IP to track which silicon includes which IP — and from what source — as manufactured at TSMC.

By making the bulk of this information available on-line, Ross further argued that designers in a variety of environments ranging from traditional IDMs to fabless semiconductor houses and small design firms can work remotely to assure themselves of the availability and quality of IP during crucial phases in product development. Additionally, customers can track their product at various phases of it's lifecycle at TSMC by remotely accessing — via TSMC-Direct — detailed information and status updates about schedules, quantities, and expected delivery times.

"The knowledge-based economy requires a personalized information organization," Ross said in proving that he has mastered the semantics of the Internet paradigm. He added, on-line information "provides low-cost connectivity between foundries and service organizations. The collaborative benefits enhance the design infrastructure and order and WIP tracking."

Meanwhile, the simultaneous demand for, and availability of, deep and very deep submicron processes is at the heart of TSMC's competitive edge, Ross said. The company's range of production capabilities includes CMOS logic at .25-µm .18-µm , .15-µm, and .13-µm process technologies, advanced memory, mixed-mode, and RF technologies at .25 µm and .18 µm, engineering services at .5 µm, .35 µm, and .25 µm, and both SiGe and BiCMOS specialty process offerings.

"IDMs have no disadvantages today in coming to foundries today" because of the breadth of the offerings, he said. Additionally, in the emerging era of system-on-a-chip (SOC) design, Ross said, "The foundries are SOC enablers because they offer advanced process technologies, leading-edge IP, libraries, and EDA support, have thousands of man years of experience in designer reference pools, ultra-fast validation of silicon, and the highest volume manufacturing capacity in the foundry business." Although he appeared to be speaking about foundries in general, few in the audience doubted he was addressing his own company's capabilities specifically.

That TSMC is flush with both confidence and cash was obvious when Ross announced that TSMC will only be building 300 mm fabs going forward and that — although putting up a fab has become "frightfully expensive" — the company continues to build at several locations in spite of the $2 billion-plus per fab price tag.

Ross predicted that by the end of 2001 or the start of 2002, "TSMC will become the largest semiconductor manufacturer on the planet" — even when compared to the largest of the IDMs in Japan or North America. Although some industry experts may argue with Ross' predictions, it is hard to miss the message: The foundry business model has thoroughly come of age since the late 1980s when TSMC first came on the scene. What a difference a decade makes.