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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →A foundry move is a product-specific engineering and business decision, not a simple supplier substitution. Before committing, confirm that the destination process fits the chip, that its design kit, EDA flows and IP are usable, and that you can fund and schedule the redesign, qualification and manufacturing ramp. Evaluate evidence for your product and operating conditions; one foundry’s process data does not establish another foundry’s yield or reliability.
Is the destination process a technical fit?
Start with the product’s requirements, then compare them with current specifications for the specific destination process. A process name or node label alone does not establish that the chip will meet its targets.
- Performance, power and area: Determine whether the process and its device options can meet the product’s performance and power targets within the available die area.
- Electrical and circuit needs: Check supported voltages and device options, as well as the availability and characteristics of memories and analog components the design depends on.
- Integration constraints: Account for package requirements and any special process needs. These may affect whether the design can be implemented as intended.
The available sources do not provide a neutral, process-by-process comparison. Obtain up-to-date specifications from each candidate foundry and assess them against the actual product rather than inferring equivalence from a process label.
Can the design be implemented and verified there?
A destination foundry’s process design kit (PDK), design rules and supported design flows determine how the chip must be laid out and verified. Treat these as process-specific inputs, not as files or settings that can automatically be carried over from the current foundry.
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Check the design kit and rules
Confirm that you can access the destination process’s current PDK and design rules, and establish which versions apply to your project. Identify changes needed to layout, parasitic extraction and verification, including any impact on existing signoff results.
Confirm the EDA flow
Ask which EDA tools and versions, file formats and implementation flows are supported or qualified for the process. Determine who will validate the flow and how extraction and signoff results will be correlated. TSMC’s 2010 announcement about interoperable EDA formats for advanced processes illustrates why this work matters; it is not a current list of supported tools or formats. See TSMC’s 2010 announcement and verify present-day support directly with the destination foundry and tool vendors.
Plan for engineering support
Clarify what design services and engineering assistance are available, who owns each implementation or verification task, and how issues will be escalated. If the project relies on outside design or tape-out support, check that the provider has experience with the specific destination process and that responsibilities are documented.
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Which IP and libraries will need work?
Assess IP block by block. A block used on the current process is not necessarily available, licensed or ready for use on the destination process. Include standard-cell libraries, memory macros and any other hard or licensed IP in the inventory.
- Is the exact IP version available for the destination process, and what qualification or assessment evidence supports it?
- Do licenses permit use with the new foundry and in the intended product and markets?
- What adaptation, integration and revalidation are required, and who is responsible for completing them?
- Who investigates and owns a failure if the block does not perform as expected in the integrated design?
Foundry-specific IP status can help reduce uncertainty, but it is not a guarantee of system results. TSMC states that it does not guarantee silicon-verified IP will work in every design environment or achieve a particular production yield ratio. Read TSMC’s IP Alliance information, then confirm the relevant IP, terms and responsibilities with its owner and the destination foundry.
What qualification and reliability evidence is needed?
Distinguish qualification of a manufacturing process from qualification of your product. Evidence that a foundry has qualified a technology does not by itself establish that every customer design will meet its requirements. Define the product’s applicable qualification requirements and agree on a plan with the foundry and relevant customers.
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That plan should specify the evidence, acceptance criteria, responsibilities and change controls needed for the product. Ask how reliability concerns will be evaluated and how failures will be investigated. TSMC describes its own process-qualification and quality approach, including qualification before technology transfer to manufacturing and quality and reliability systems extending to mass production, in its Quality Policy. This is a description of TSMC’s policy, not proof of another supplier’s practices or a substitute for product-specific qualification.
How should yield and process maturity be assessed?
Ask what evidence is available for the destination process at its current maturity and how closely it reflects your product, production conditions and operating requirements. Clarify whether the information concerns a process generally, a particular product, a pilot lot or ongoing production; those are not interchangeable kinds of evidence.
Request the basis and scope for any yield or reliability figures you are given, including the conditions under which they were measured and how relevant they are to your design. The sources available here do not establish independent, comparable yield or reliability results across foundries, so avoid treating one supplier’s figures as a direct comparison with another’s without a common basis.
What costs and schedule belong in the decision?
Compare the full transition with the alternative of staying at the current foundry. A lower quoted wafer price, by itself, does not show whether the move is economically or schedule-wise worthwhile.
- Engineering: Design adaptation, layout, verification, extraction and signoff work, plus IP integration and revalidation.
- Startup and qualification: Masks, prototype runs, product qualification and any required packaging or test changes.
- Production ramp: Potential yield learning, capacity availability and the time needed to reach the required volume.
- Commercial and delivery: Ongoing manufacturing economics, logistics and the consequences of a longer or uncertain time to volume.
The Semiconductor Industry Association reports that, between 2006 and 2020, the cost of designing a new chip on the latest manufacturing node rose by more than 18 times: about $30 million for a 65nm chip in 2006 versus over $540 million for a 5nm chip in 2020. These are SIA’s historical industry-level design-cost figures, not estimates for a foundry move, a wafer price or a forecast for a particular product. See the SIA’s chip design and R&D page.
Build a product-specific estimate and schedule with explicit assumptions for redesign, verification, prototypes, qualification, yield ramp and time to volume. No general transition cost or timeline can be inferred from the historical industry figures.
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What manufacturing visibility and supply commitments will you get?
Before selecting a supplier, establish what information you will receive, how often it will be updated and what agreement governs access. Discuss pilot-lot progress, wafer yield, acceptance-test results, quality and reliability information, lot status, assembly and shipping. Also assess capacity assurance, traceability, engineering response, geographic and logistics exposure, and the route for resolving production issues.
TSMC’s eFoundry page describes information categories available through its own collaboration services. That description is not evidence that other suppliers offer the same services or data access; confirm availability and terms with each candidate.
Which legal and commercial constraints could block the move?
Review the agreements and requirements that apply to the product and the parties involved before transferring designs, data or production. The relevant details depend on the product, contracts and jurisdictions, so they cannot be resolved with a general foundry comparison.
- Confirm ownership and permitted use of design data, libraries, IP and other materials, along with any confidentiality and data-handling obligations.
- Check contract terms that affect a transfer, including restrictions, customer approvals and rights to production or qualification data.
- Determine which export-control and jurisdiction-specific requirements apply to the product, parties and data flows.
How can you make the decision?
Use the same product requirements and assumptions to evaluate each candidate process. Record evidence and unresolved questions rather than relying on a single headline price or an unqualified claim of process maturity.
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Quick Recap
- Define the product case: Set performance, power, area, electrical, memory, analog, package, reliability and volume requirements.
- Request destination-specific inputs: Obtain current process specifications, the PDK and design rules, EDA flow support, IP availability, qualification plans, capacity information and proposed data access.
- Map the engineering delta: Identify changes to the design, libraries, IP, implementation, verification, packaging and test; assign an owner and evidence requirement to each.
- Build the transition case: Estimate engineering and startup costs, production economics, yield-learning assumptions, qualification work and time to volume.
- Resolve evidence and obligations: Agree on how qualification, reliability, manufacturing status, issue response, data handling and legal requirements will be addressed.
- Compare candidates on a common basis: Document what is confirmed, what remains conditional and what must be demonstrated before committing to production.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
