东京 —— 据《日经亚洲》报道，全球最大的晶圆代工厂台积电（TSMC）计划利用一只新设立的 5 亿美元风险投资基金，支持有潜力成为下一个英伟达或博通的芯片初创企业，以期在人工智能热潮中拓宽其生态系统并“正式化”其投资活动。台积电副联席首席运营官兼业务拓展与全球销售资深副总裁张晓强透露了上述信息。
TOKYO -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. plans to use a new $500 million venture fund to support promising chip startups that could become the next Nvidia or Broadcom, as the world's largest contract chipmaker seeks to broaden its ecosystem and "formalize" its investment activities amid the AI boom, a senior executive told Nikkei Asia.
张晓强表示，本周宣布成立的这只新基金，也可能投资供应商及其他上游合作伙伴，因为公司旨在将生态系统拓展至直接客户之外。
Kevin Zhang, TSMC's deputy co-chief operating officer and senior vice president of business development and global sales, said the new fund, announced this week, could also invest in suppliers and other upstream partners, as the company aims to expand its ecosystem beyond its direct customers.
张晓强说：“我们觉得是时候……正式化这一投资机制了，我们也希望拓展投资范围，不仅仅局限于我们的直接客户。”他首次披露了台积电决定设立专门投资部门的理由。“我们也想借此机会发展更广泛的生态系统，潜在范围包括我们的供应商，例如我们的上游合作伙伴。”这将代表台积电方法的改变，因为该公司此前从未投资过其供应商。台积电依赖一个庞大的供应链，提供从特种及先进化学品和材料到各种晶片制造设备和测试工具的一切。知识产权提供商也被归类为合作伙伴。
"We feel it's time to ...formalize this investment mechanism, and we also want to extend the scope [to] not only just target our immediate customers," Zhang said, revealing for the first time the rationale behind TSMC's decision to establish a dedicated investment arm. "We also want to use the opportunity to develop the broader ecosystem, potentially including our suppliers, for example, our upstream [partners]." This would represent a change of approach for TSMC, which has not previously invested in its suppliers. The company relies on a vast supply chain that provides everything from specialty and advanced chemicals and materials to a wide range of chipmaking equipment and testing tools. Intellectual property providers are also classed as partners.
张晓强还解释了台积电决定分别向 Anthropic 和 OpenAI 这两家全球领先的 AI 模型开发商投资最多 5 亿美元背后的考量，该举措于周二宣布，同一天台积电还宣布了新投资部门的成立。
Zhang also explained the thinking behind TSMC's decision to invest up to $500 million each in Anthropic and OpenAI two of the world's leading AI model developers, a move announced on Tuesday, the same day as the new investment arm.
“通过投资Anthropic或OpenAI，我们创造了一个强化循环，基本上是为了构建一个更丰富、更健康、希望也能更大的生态系统，”他说。“我们的目标是继续推动硅技术的进步，以满足未来的计算需求。”Anthropic和OpenAI都在寻求开发自己的定制芯片，在某些情况下与台积电的关键客户合作。例如，OpenAI正与博通合作开发代号为“Jalapeno”的人工智能芯片。
"By investing in Anthropic or OpenAI, we create a reinforcing loop to basically build a richer and healthier and hopefully a bigger ecosystem," he said. "Our goal is to continue to drive the advancement of silicon technology to address the future computation requirement." Both Anthropic and OpenAI are looking to develop their own custom chips, in some cases with key TSMC customers. OpenAI, for instance, is working with Broadcom on AI chips dubbed Jalapeno.
这只新基金最初的5亿美元规模，远大于台积电2021年设立的约2亿美元“新创基金”，后者旨在帮助初创公司利用台积电的先进芯片制造能力。
The new fund's initial $500 million is significantly larger than the roughly $200 million "emerging fund" TSMC established in 2021 to help startups tap the company's advanced chip manufacturing capabilities.
张晓明表示：“[新创]基金的目的，真的是为了帮助降低初创公司的门槛，使其能够基于台积电的先进制程技术开发创新产品。”台积电扩大投资范围之际，正值大规模人工智能基础设施建设导致关键材料和设备长期短缺。
"The purpose of the [emerging] fund was really to help to lower the barrier for the startup company to be able to develop innovative products based on TSMC advanced node tech," Zhang said. TSMC's move to broaden its investment scope comes amid a massive AI infrastructure buildout that has led to prolonged shortages of critical materials and equipment.
张晓明表示，设立风险投资部门的决定凸显了台积电不仅致力于通过制造服务支持全球芯片巨头，也致力于支持整个半导体行业的新兴创新者。台积电以代工先进芯片闻名，其全球530多家客户中包括苹果、英伟达、谷歌和高通等世界领先的芯片设计公司。
Zhang said the decision to set up the venture investment arm underscores TSMC's commitment to supporting not only global chip giants through its manufacturing services but also emerging innovators across the semiconductor industry. TSMC is best known for manufacturing advanced chips for some of the world's leading chip designers, including Apple, Nvidia, Google and Qualcomm, among its more than 530 customers worldwide.
“我们不仅致力于支持大客户，”张晓明说。“提到台积电，你马上会想到，有苹果、有英伟达、有AMD、有博通[作为头部客户]。是的，那些都是很棒的客户。但请记住，当英伟达开始与我们合作时，英伟达也是一家初创公司。”“我们不仅支持今天的英伟达，也想支持未来的英伟达，”这位高管说。
"We're not just working to support large customers," Zhang said. "When you talk about TSMC, you immediately think, you have Apple, you have Nvidia, you have AMD, you have Broadcom [as top clients]. Yes, those are great customers. But remember, when Nvidia started working with us, Nvidia was a startup." "We not only support today's Nvidia, but we also want to support the future's Nvidia," the senior executive said.
台积电承诺总计投资高达 17 亿美元，其中包括其 2021 年设立的新兴基金、新的投资部门，以及对 OpenAI 和 Anthropic 的计划投资。张晓明表示，如果需要，不排除进一步扩大投资基金的可能性，而其原有新兴基金的回报“非常优异”。
TSMC has committed to invest up to $1.7 billion in total, which includes its 2021 emerging fund, the new investment arm and planned investments in OpenAI and Anthropic. It would not rule out expanding the investment fund further if needed, while returns from its original emerging fund had been "exceptional," according to Zhang.