A fresh report says that TSMC is on schedule to start mass-producing chips using the 2nm process node in 2025.
2023 is a historic year in the semiconductor industry. That’s because TSMC and Samsung Foundry are shipping chips made using their respective 3nm process nodes. The smaller the process nodes, the smaller a chip’s feature size which means smaller transistors and higher transistor counts. The more transistors in a chip, the more powerful and energy-efficient that chip is. Apple has reportedly tied up all of TSMC’s first-gen 3nm production and the 3nm A17 Bionic will debut in the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Ultra later this year.
On Friday, a new report from Taiwan online publication MoneyDJ (via Wccftech) says that TSMC will start mass production of 2nm chips starting in 2025. As is typical, an enhanced version of 2nm production called N2P will start in 2026, the year after the first-gen N2 production takes place. This echoes the N3 name for TSMC’s current 3nm production and the N3P name TSMC will call its enhanced 3nm node expected to be available next year.
TSMC’s N3 yields are said to be improving and with wafers for 3nm production reportedly priced at $20,000 a pop, rising yields are a positive sign. However, Apple will see that price rise by 3% later this year.
