TSMC, the semiconductor manufacturing giant behind Apple Silicon and MediaTek’s flagship Dimensity chipsets of 2022, has recently announced that the chip supplier will be commencing mass volume production of its 3nm processors from the second half of 2022 (H2 2022) onwards.
According to a report from Digitimes, the CEO of TSMC, Mr CC Wei, in an earnings press briefing today confirmed that the company will be starting the mass production of its processors based on the 3nm node process(N2) in the second half of this year as planned, and its 2-nanometer process(N2) semiconductors are expected to go into mass production in 2025.
In the briefing, Mr Wei reiterated that with TSMC’s latest N3 process, the company is confident that the new node will be able to meet up with consumer requests and demands by providing higher power efficiency and support for higher computing performance than its predecessors. Mr Wei also added that the company had received many interests and engagements for its N3 technology and the company is expecting more new tape-outs for N3 for the first year as compared with N5(5nm) and N7(7nm).
Sources in the industry have also got the news that once N3 goes into mass production, 30,000 and 35,000 N3 chip wafers are expected to be manufactured monthly from TSMC to its clients.
Since the chip wafers will be going into mass production very soon, it is also expected to see devices equipped with chipsets manufactured on TSMC’s N3 process soon in H2 2022. The great news is that according to Digitimes is that Apple may be the first brand to feature TSMC’s latest technology. This is because Apple is said to launch a new iPad this year equipped with Apple Silicon that will be built on TSMC’s N3 process in H2 2022.
However, we may not see widespread adoption of TSMC N3 technology yet in 2022, as TSMC plans to ramp up production of its N3 wafers in 2023 instead. TSMC N3 could be featured in the rumoured Apple A17 Bionic chips on the iPhone 15 series, as well as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chips and the MediaTek Dimensity 9200 chips for the Android flagship market in 2024.
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