TSMC, the semiconductor manufacturing giant behind Apple Silicon and MediaTek's 2022 flagship Dimensity chipsets, recently announced that the chip supplier will begin mass production of its 3nm processors in the second half of 2022 (2H2022).
TSMC CEO Wei Jianguo confirmed at today’s earnings conference that the company will begin mass production of processors based on the 3nm node process (N2) in the second half of this year. 2-nanometer process (N2) semiconductors are expected to reach mass production in 2025.
At the press conference, Mr. Wei reiterated that with TSMC's latest N3 process, the company believes that the new node will be able to meet consumer requirements and needs by providing higher energy efficiency and support for higher computing performance than previous generations. Wei also added that the company has received a lot of interest and participation for its N3 technology, and it expects more new tapeouts for N3 in the first year compared to N5 (5nm) and N7 (7nm).
Industry insiders have also received news that once N3 is mass-produced, TSMC is expected to produce 30,000 and 35,000 N3 chip wafers per month to its customers.
Devices equipped with chipsets manufactured on TSMC’s N3 process are expected to be seen soon in the second half of 2022 as chip wafers will soon enter mass production. The good news is that Apple may be the first to adopt TSMC's latest technology, according to Digitimes. That's because Apple is said to be launching a new iPad this year equipped with Apple Silicon, which will be built on TSMC's N3 process in the second half of 2022.
However, we may not see widespread adoption of TSMC’s N3 technology in 2022, as TSMC plans to increase production of its N3 wafers in 2023. TSMC N3 may appear in the rumored Apple A17 Bionic chip for the iPhone 15 series, as well as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip and MediaTek Dimensity 9200 chip in the 2024 Android flagship market.
