There's plenty of chips for everyone ...

"Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world's biggest contract chipmaker, has agreed to invest 1.1bn euros ($1.4bn; £850m) in one of its key equipment suppliers in a bid to cut costs.

Under the deal, it will invest 276m euro in ASML to develop tools to make smaller, more cost-effective chips. This comes just weeks after Intel signed a similar agreement with ASML. Dutch firm ASML makes machines used to print circuit patterns onto chips.

Shang-yi Chiang, TSMC's co-chief operating officer, said that one of the biggest challenges facing the industry was "how to effectively control the escalating wafer manufacturing cost".

He said the co-investment programme with ASML to develop future technology will help keep the costs in check in the long run. The Taiwanese chipmaker will also invest 838m euro to acquire a 5% stake in the firm."

Source: BBC

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