TSMC 3nm Chip Archives - Gizmochina

Apple May Team Up with TSMC for Secret AI Chip ‘Baltra’

Joane — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 08:40:51 +0000

Highlights:

Apple is developing its own AI server chip, codenamed “Baltra,” for cloud infrastructure
Built using advanced 3nm technology from TSMC
Move aims to reduce reliance on NVIDIA and strengthen Apple’s AI ecosystem

AI- generated image for representation only

Apple is quietly building a major foundation for its AI future with a new self-designed server chip known internally as “Baltra.” This chip is expected to power the company’s internal cloud infrastructure, focusing on secure data processing and backend AI workloads. It marks a major shift as Apple expands beyond consumer hardware into large-scale AI computing.

The Baltra chip is likely to be manufactured by TSMC using its second-generation 3nm (N3E) process. This technology is designed to deliver improved performance and efficiency compared to earlier nodes. Apple is also investing heavily in TSMC’s advanced SoIC (System on Integrated Chips) packaging, which enables vertical stacking of multiple chip components for better speed and power efficiency.

Reports suggest Baltra will use a chiplet-based architecture, allowing different specialized chips to work together in one package. This design improves scalability and lets Apple optimize AI workloads more effectively. The company is also working with partners on interconnect technologies while gradually aiming to bring more design capabilities in-house.

To support its AI push, Apple has reportedly reserved significant production capacity at TSMC for the coming years. A large portion of this is expected to be allocated to AI server chips like Baltra, signaling serious long-term investment.

Overall, this move highlights Apple’s plan to control its entire AI stack, from silicon and packaging to cloud infrastructure, while reducing dependence on external chip providers and competing more directly in the AI hardware space.

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TSMC’s Largest Customer, Apple, Reduces Chip Orders Significantly

Oğuz Çakır — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 15:13:41 +0000

Recently, there have been reports that Apple has reduced its order size with TSMC. The company is the sole supplier of Apple chips, and the reduction in orders is a reflection of the overall weakness of the global economy. It is important to note that the canceled orders were for chips that would be made using TSMC’s N7, N5, N4, and even some N3 nodes. Here are the details…

Apple has sharply reduced the size of the order it has with TSMC

TSMC is the leading company in the chip-making industry and is currently the only company that is mass-producing chips using their respective 3nm process nodes. Samsung is the only other company currently producing 3nm chips but uses a different type of transistor. TSMC’s N3 (3nm) process node is expected to be used for the production of the A17 Bionic, which will be found in the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Ultra, as well as Apple’s M2 Ultra and M3 chips.

Despite TSMC’s continued use of FinFET transistors for its 3nm node, it has still been able to beat out Samsung Foundry when it comes to signing up customers, with big names like Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Nvidia reserving production capacity for 2023 and 2024. In order to give Apple most of the 3nm production capacity later this year, Intel agreed to change its roadmap and delay receipt of its 3nm orders. TSMC’s enhanced 3nm process node (N3E) could be launched this year even though there might not be a big rush for orders considering the cost. It is worth noting that wafer prices have risen sharply over the years. In 2004, 90nm wafers sold for about $2,000, while in 2016, 10nm wafers cost $6,000, and in 2020, the price hit $16,000 for 5nm wafers. Wafer prices for 3nm chips are currently priced in the $20,000 area.

Intel has also announced that it will take process leadership from TSMC and Samsung by 2025, thanks to two developments. It will use RibbonFET transistors, which is another term for the Gate-All-Around (GAA) transistors already employed by Samsung, and it will use a feature known as PowerVia or backside power delivery. This will allow transistors to obtain power from one side of a chip while using the other side to connect to data communication links.

The reduction in orders from Apple with TSMC is a reflection of the overall weakness of the global economy and the hangover from last year’s chip shortage. Despite this, TSMC remains the leading company in the chip-making industry, and its enhanced 3nm process node (N3E) could be launched this year. Additionally, Intel is set to take process leadership from TSMC and Samsung by 2025, thanks to the use of RibbonFET transistors and the PowerVia feature. The chip-making industry is constantly evolving, and it will be interesting to see how these developments will affect the industry in the future.

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iPhone 15 Series Prices May Be Higher Than Expected Because of TSMC

Oğuz Çakır — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 14:43:53 +0000

The 3 nm era has officially started in chip production. Manufacturers such as Samsung and TSMC have started the production process for chips that develop with this technology. It looks like TSMC will start shipping 3nm chips to Apple for the iPhone 15 series. Although this situation is good in terms of performance and energy efficiency, its reflection on costs has already begun. TSMC’s wafer prices double from 7nm production to 3nm.

TSMC’s wafer prices double from 7nm production to 3nm

The A17 Bionic chip developed by Apple for the iPhone 15 series will be produced by TSMC, the world’s leading chip foundry, using a state-of-the-art process node. Simply put, the lower the process node number, the smaller the transistors used in a chip allowing more transistors inside a chip, the more powerful and energy-efficient it is. This process causes more advanced processors to emerge every year.

For Example, iPhone 11 had 7nm A13 Bionic SoC, released in 2019 that carried 8.5 billion transistors in each chip but iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max had the A16 Bionic chipset under their hoods. Unfortunately, maintaining the progress we’ve seen in the past is getting harder and harder each year.

Both TSMC and Samsung have plans for 2nm chips starting in 2025 and it is even possible that we will see 1nm by 2030. Although these developments have many advantages, they also come with costs. According to the latest reports TSMC plans on charging more than $20,000 for 3nm wafers. When the foundry moved from 7nm to 5nm, wafer pricing rose 60% from $10,000/wafer to $16,000/wafer.

At first glance, these costs do not make sense for the end user, but the increase in prices is inevitable. Based on this, it is possible to say that the iPhone 15 and other flagship models will come out at a higher price than expected. Especially considering that the cost increase is not limited to wafers.

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TSMC’s 3nm chips to launch in early 2023, 2nm Technology is also On the Way

Anurag — Sat, 18 Jun 2022 07:14:06 +0000

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) on Thursday commenced its 2022 TSMC Technology Symposium, where the company released its chip development timeline as well as its future plans. The timeline reveals that the Taiwan-based chipmaker will introduce its leading-edge 3nm (N3) chips in the second half of this year and will also unveil the 2nm technology sometime in 2025. The new technologies will be used to make advanced CPUs, GPUs, and SoCs.

The 3nm nodes will come in a total of five 3 nm-class nodes, dubbed N3E, N3P, N3S, and N3X. These N3 variants are claimed to offer improved process windows, higher performance, increased transistor densities, and augmented voltages for ultra-high-performance applications. All these technologies will feature the TSMC’s proprietary FINFLEX architectural innovation that offers great flexibility to chip designers and allows them to precisely optimize performance, power consumption, and costs of Chips.

As AnandTech rightly points out, N3 is made for developed for brands like Apple which could take advantage of the increase in the performance, power, and area (PPA) delivered by leading-edge nodes.

If we talk about the 2nm technology, It will offer a remarkable improvement over the N3, with a 10-15% speed increase at the same power, or a 25-30% power reduction at the same speed, unleashing new standards of Efficient Performance.

N2 will come with the GAAFETs (gate-all-around field-effect transistors) to deliver a full-node improvement in performance and power efficiency. The N2 technology platform will feature a high-performance variant in addition to the mobile compute baseline version and comprehensive chipset integration solutions.

The first N3 chips are expected to enter into production in the coming months and will arrive on the market in Q1 2023. N2 is scheduled to begin production in 2025.