{"id":"production-ramp-allocation","level":"infrastructure","name":"Production ramps, inventory and allocation","shortName":"Production ramps, inventory and allocation","role":"Tracks time-dependent output and distinguishes qualified supply from a customer’s accessible share.","description":"A capacity announcement describes a plan or installed capability, while output ramps as equipment, process performance and qualification mature. Inventory can buffer delays, but repeated visits and queued work make factory cycle time longer than processing time. A finished product may then be reserved, contracted or allocated to a different customer. TSMC’s annual report describes customer-linked capacity planning without revealing private allocation shares. Physical output and access require separate accounting: completed equipment can exist without being allocated to the workload in question. Increasing a nominal monthly capacity input must not instantly create finished inventory before its lead time and qualification gates have elapsed.","specs":[{"label":"Three time concepts","value":"Processing, waiting and qualification delay","context":"All can affect first usable output without representing the same work."},{"label":"Supply versus access","value":"Qualified production and allocated units","context":"Physical existence does not establish availability to a particular buyer."}],"interfaces":[{"name":"Capacity plan and incoming inventory","direction":"in","signal":"Time-varying starts, lead times and screening assumptions"},{"name":"Allocated qualified supply","direction":"out","signal":"Finished units released to a defined destination and date"}],"tradeoff":"Inventory improves resilience to some delays but consumes resources and can become mismatched when designs change; conservative ramps reduce overcommitment.","whyAI":"Hardware availability for a training program depends on arrival dates and allocation, not merely on a supplier’s eventual nameplate capacity.","related":["compatible-supply-capacity","capacity-phase-geography","scheduler"],"sources":[{"title":"TSMC 2025 Annual Report","url":"https://investor.tsmc.com/sites/ir/annual-report/2025/2025%20TSMC%20Annual%20Report.E.pdf"}],"scale":"Manufacturing supply to commissioned hall; time-dependent model","kind":"architecture","branch":"Data-center physical systems","subbranch":"Capacity, ramps and commissioning","mechanism":["Represent the announced or installed capability separately from actual starts and completed units.","Delay output by processing and waiting time, with qualification as its own release gate.","Update inventory as compatible inputs arrive and finished products consume them.","Allocate qualified output using explicit scenario rules rather than guessing confidential customer shares.","Compare the time-dependent delivered result with the intended deployment schedule and identify the current bottleneck."],"misconception":"Capex is not production volume, and supplier capacity does not identify a customer’s allocated share.","check":{"question":"Why can a capacity increase fail to improve next week’s deliveries?","options":["Lead time, qualification or another input can delay output","Capacity and inventory are always identical","All reservations disappear when a tool arrives"],"answer":0,"explanation":"A change in possible starts takes time to propagate and may encounter another required input or release gate."},"science":[{"title":"Inventory conservation","equation":"I(t+1) = I(t) + arrivals(t) − consumption(t)","explanation":"Every term counts the same compatible item over the same time step.","assumptions":"No hidden scrap or rework; those flows must be explicitly added when modeled."}],"prerequisites":["compatible-supply-capacity"],"learningObjective":"Model ramps and allocation without treating future capacity as immediate inventory.","workstream":"W09","visualFamily":"capacity-flow","engineeringExample":"Synthetic three-week lead time means extra starts in week one cannot become completed supply until week four at the earliest. A customer allocated half that output receives only that half, even if total factory output is larger.","evidenceNotes":"Allocation fractions and delays are synthetic. TSMC source material supports planning roles, not confidential queues, customer shares or current unit-per-month estimates.","labId":"engineering","scope":"Trace compatible component rates, a bounded qualification/ramp scenario and package backlog; this is not a detailed fab queue or operator-allocation simulator.","deepLabId":"capacity","investigationId":"manufacturing","labScope":"Trace compatible component rates, a bounded qualification/ramp scenario and package backlog; this is not a detailed fab queue or operator-allocation simulator."}