Under TSMC's latest semiconductor roadmap, 9 Japanese companies form an indispensable supply base. Japanese companies' technologies and capabilities are being more closely integrated around front-end N2/N3 and back-end CoPoS.
TSMC, the world's largest foundry, requires advanced film deposition and lithography technologies for the front-end N2/N3 generations, and Japan's high-purity materials and chemical technologies are considered indispensable. In the back end, the rise of panel-level packaging following CoWoS is driving validation and preparations for mass production of CoPoS. This is increasing the importance of Japanese companies' supply base in supporting TSMC's roadmap.
Japanese companies are considered to have an advantage for three reasons: extreme-purity materials and molecular design technologies, collaboration through JASM/JRDC on joint development with TSMC, and their combined share of the global market for key components. This highlights the indispensability of technologies and materials across both front-end and back-end processes.
The 5 companies cited as stocks to watch are Ibiden, トリケミカル研究所, 東洋合成工業, 東京応化工業 and 大阪有機化学工業. Each is positioned to provide technologies central to next-generation packaging, including glass substrates, precursor materials, photosensitive agents and resists, and aluminum nitride.
In addition, 4 under-the-radar companies are identified as leading candidates in next-generation technologies. Ibiden, with core glass-substrate technologies; トリケミカル, which supplies precursors compatible with N2/GAA; 東洋合成工業, which supports EUV-related materials; and 東京応化工業, a global platform provider for EUV resists, may each increase in importance on the roadmap.