Taiwanese media, citing the US outlet The Information, report that TSMC has begun drafting plans to make 3D DRAM, a next-generation memory chip, after a request from Nvidia. The account rests on anonymous sources and is not a confirmed business line, and TSMC says it does not comment on market rumors.
The United Daily News and the Liberty Times relayed The Information's report on the 6th, saying TSMC has started planning 3D DRAM production at the request of its largest customer, Nvidia. The Liberty Times framed it as a major strategic shift.
광고 문의 · 300×250As the United Daily News summarized it, the report relies on two people familiar with the matter. It gives no start date and no detail on how facilities would be obtained, floating two routes: building a new fab, or buying an existing plant and converting it to memory production. Nvidia did not respond to a request for comment.
TSMC's official reaction keeps its distance. According to the United Daily News, TSMC told The Information that it does not comment on market rumors or speculation and remains focused on its core foundry business, aiming to be a trusted provider of technology and capacity for the logic chip industry. It neither denied nor confirmed any plan.
Why a Korean angle appeared
The United Daily News headline asked whether TSMC no longer wants to let Korean makers profit, yet the body names no Korean company. That is the outlet's framing, not a fact established by the report. It is plausible that Nvidia wants to widen its sources of memory for AI accelerators, but that too is inference.
Markets were also volatile that day. The United Daily News said TSMC's US-listed ADRs rose about 7.6 percent in premarket trading, and reports described large swings in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index early in the session. Worries about tighter data-center rules after the midterms and expectations of a rate hike after strong US jobs data have lifted chip-stock volatility. Whether this report directly drove the rebound has not been confirmed.
What is and is not confirmed
In sum, what is confirmed is that The Information published the report, plus TSMC's general reply. Investment size, groundbreaking timing, acquisition targets and product specifications appear in no report, so it is too early to say TSMC will enter the memory market.
The Korean and Taiwanese chip industries are expected to watch closely. Until an official announcement, this should be treated as a rumor, and this paper will follow up when TSMC or Nvidia says more.