TSMC to start making 3nm chips for iPhones and Macs in Q4 2022

Apple's chip manufacturing partner TSMC will start manufacturing 3-nanometer chips for the upcoming iPhones, Macs, and MacBooks during the fourth quarter of 2022, a new report from DigiTimes, suggests.

Apple decided to move away from Intel chips completely and to use its own proprietary processors in Macs and MacBooks. This process has already begun, and the company expects to introduce its new M3 and A17 chips sometime in early 2023, powering next-generation iPhones and Macs.

The 3-nanometer manufacturing process should allow Apple to cram up to four dies on the M3 chips, resulting in a whopping 40 cores per CPU. That’s pretty amazing, considering that the M1 processors feature 8 cores, while the recently launched M1 Pro and M1 Max take this number to 10.

AMD and Qualcomm are currently using TSMC as a manufacturing partner but rumor has it that both companies are seeking alternatives in the face of Samsung silicon factories. Intel on the other hand is having a really hard time with its 10nm chips (while competitors are already moving toward 3nm nodes) and might have to rely on partners to get its next-gen silicon up to speed.