Last month, Samsung was the first to hold a ceremony to deliver the first 3nm GAA chips. The South Korean electronics giant claims that the next-generation chip based on ring-gate transistor technology is expected to eventually reduce area by up to 35 percent and deliver a 30 percent performance boost and 50 percent power consumption reduction compared to the existing FinFET process. Meanwhile, TSMC, another global chip foundry giant, has also said it will start mass production of 3nm chips in the second half of 2022.
In a recent interview with the South China Morning Post, TSMC CEO CC Wei admitted that the company is facing delivery delays, driven by global expansion.
But TSMC will soon be producing ultra-advanced 3nm chips, even if it is slowed by supply chain disruptions and other factors, CC Wei said at an annual technology forum.
"At first, when we saw that automakers were suffering from a shortage of cores, we all wondered how the industry had not fully understood the importance of chips. But then TSMC's own equipment suppliers also encountered delivery delays and informed them that they were similarly affected by component and chip shortages. As it turns out, many industries around the world have failed to realize the importance of supply chain management over the past years -- even TSMC itself did not do a good job of it. Having realized this, TSMC is working to ensure steady progress on its plans, which include bringing its 3D chip stacking technology (SOIC) into volume production during 2022."
Finally, if all goes well, Apple and Intel will be TSMC’s first chip foundry customers for its 3nm advanced process.
On the other hand, Samsung, the global memory chip giant and second-largest chip foundry giant said its 2nm process node is in the early stages of development and is expected to be in volume production by 2025.
