Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Samsung Electronics are competing to bring more advanced processes to the market, with TSMC eager to promote its 16nm FinFET Plus process, and Samsung planning to push ahead its advanced 14nm LPP (low power plus) process, according to industry sources.

　　TSMC is ready to begin volume production for 16nm FinFET process by the end of 2014, but it has already rolled out an upgraded version, the 16nm FinFET Plus, the sources said.

　　TSMC aims to completely migrate to upgraded version in the future, but as some clients have entered design-in process using the older version, 16nm FinFET volume production will still go ahead as scheduled, added the sources.

　　The 14nm processes being developed by Samsung, Intel and Globalfoundries, respectively, may enable better performance for devices, but TSMC's 16nm FinFET process has a cost advantage, the sources indicated.

　　Following the steps of TSMC, Samsung also plans to advance the launch of its 14nm LPP process, while bringing its 14nm LPE (low power early) node into volume production soon, the sources said.

　　The 14nm FinFET LPP process is better than the 14nm LPE technology in terms of overall performance and power consumption, said the sources.