3nm chip is the focus of major manufacturers, because the chip has improved from 7nm to 5nm chip, and its performance and power consumption have been greatly improved.
, but it has improved from 5nm to 4nm chips. Whether it is Qualcomm chips or Apple chips, there has been basically no change. In order to open up the gap, major manufacturers want to launch 3nm chips as soon as possible.
Earlier this year, TSMC and Samsung both said that they will mass-produce 3nm chips in the second half of this year. As a result, Samsung's 3nm chip has been put into production, but TSMC's 3nm chip has frequently received news of delays.
For example, TSMC's 3nm chip is delayed, Apple, Intel , etc. delay the launch of 3nm chips; TSMC's 3nm chip will be delayed for 3 months, etc.
For such news, TSMC Liu Deyin publicly stated many times that the progress of the 3nm chip is in line with expectations.
Now, facing 3nm chips, TSMC has officially revealed its attitude and made a statement. The situation is as follows:
TSMC says the development of the 3nm process is in line with expectations, with a high yield, and will be mass-produced later in the fourth quarter.
It is understood that TSMC will mass-produce chips with N3 process this year, and is expected to mass-produce chips with N3P process in 2023, which is an upgraded version of its N3 process.
TSMC officially stated that the 3nm chip will be mass-produced in the fourth quarter of this year, which means that in terms of time, TSMC's 3nm process may be 5 or 6 months behind Samsung.
In addition, Samsung has officially stated that it has put into production of 3nm chips in the middle of this year, and is expected to officially mass-produce 3nm chips with GAA process in 2023.
According to the news released by Samsung, the performance of the 3nm chip in the GAA process has increased by more than 21% and its power consumption is reduced by 45%, while the performance of the TSMC 3nm chip is improved by only 11%, and its power consumption is reduced by about 25%.
Although TSMC is also developing the GAA process, it will not be used until 2025.
This means that TSMC not only lags behind Samsung in terms of mass production time of 3nm chips, but also lags behind Samsung in terms of process. However, the yield rate of Samsung chips has always been lower than that of TSMC. I wonder if there will be improvement on 3nm chips.
Despite this, TSMC, which has always been leading in advanced processes, is likely to become a watershed for TSMC.
First of all, TSMC has lagged behind Samsung in terms of mass production time and process of 3nm chips, although TSMC said the development of the 3nm process is in line with expectations, with a high yield and will be mass-produced later in the fourth quarter.
But everything still needs to be found. After all, the GAA process is the most advanced process at present. Samsung took the lead in using it on a 3nm chip, and it will only be used when TSMC reaches a 2nm chip.
Secondly, TSMC's advanced technology customers have also changed. Since TSMC wants to raise the price by 6% again, Apple and Nvidia have clearly expressed their opposition.
In addition, TSMC's first customers have often two advanced chip production capacity. In the 5nm era, Apple and Huawei , and in the 4nm era, Apple and Qualcomm . As a result, on the 3nm chip, Apple is the only one left.
Although Intel said it will use TSMC 3nm chips to mass produce the latest chips, Intel also earlier stated that chip orders for advanced processes are distributed to Samsung and TSMC.
In other words, Samsung has its own and Qualcomm two 3nm chip customers, and will also have Intel's 3nm chip orders.
Finally, TSMC has a large number of advanced process chip production capacity with the priority of EUV lithography machines, but the new generation of High NA EUV lithography machines may be shipped to Samsung first.
ASML has revealed that it will deliver a new generation of High NA EUV lithography machine at some point in 2023, and TSMC has revealed that it will obtain this model of lithography machine in 2024.
From these two points, High NA EUV lithography machine may be shipped to Samsung first. After all, Intel does not need it for the time being, which will further give Samsung an advantage in advanced processes.
What do you think about this?
