TSMC to begin risk production of 3nm chips starting next year
The world's largest contract foundry is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). The firm manufactures chips for companies that design their own but don't have the facilities to produce them. The equipment used to make chips is very complex and very expensive. For example, TSMC plans on spending $15 billion this year on capital expenditures. TSMC's top customers include Apple, Qualcomm, and Huawei.
TSMC to begin risk-production of the 3nm process node next year
TSMC's 5nm process node is being used to manufacture the A14 Bionic chip that will power the iPhone 12 series
As a general rule, the more transistors inside a chip, the more powerful and energy-efficient it is. Approximately every other year, the transistor density nearly doubles allowing companies to design more powerful components. As an example, there will be 15 billion transistors inside the Apple A14 Bionic compared with the 8,5 billion packed inside the A13 Bionic and the 6.9 billion that was shoehorned into the A12 Bionic. If things go as planned, the Apple iPhone 12 series will be the first handsets to be powered by a 5nm chipset.
And now TSMC is looking ahead to the 3nm mode. According to MyDrivers, the foundry plans on beginning risk production at the 3nm process node next year. As we pointed out back in April, these are chips produced by the foundry for manufacturers willing to buy them without going through the standard testing procedures. TSMC says that its 3nm chips will deliver a 10% to 15% hike in performance with a 20% to 25% increase in energy efficiency. Today's report mentions that Apple's A16 chip, due to be shipped in 2022, will be manufactured using the 3nm process node.
Originally TSMC was planning to make a shift from using FinFET transistors to GAA (gate-all-around) for the 3nm process node. But the foundry has decided to continue using FinFET to control the current running through transistors until it is ready to move along to the 2nm node.
Things that are NOT allowed: