And Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.--with, it seems, soon-to-be-revealed additions to an already announced investment program--is likely to be the biggest winner in the shakeout.

The giant foundry has managed to keep investing even through this dire downturn. It has just started equipping its latest gigafab, which will be capable of 150,000-plus wafer starts a month.

And TSMC is taking on another 400 process engineers--an increase of 30 percent during the next 12 months--and pushing up the number involved in design technologies by 15 percent from the current 600. Those workers will be the key people who must ensure the tools and models are available for the next generation of process technologies and who will work to integrate the latest intellectual property from TSMC's clients, big and small.

This is quite a commitment from a company that has recently acknowledged that the industry's profitability and operating margins have been dreadful.