According to Taiwan media “United Daily News” citing sources, due to the need to deal with the AI wave, TSMC will change its plan to build a factory in Kaohsiung, planning to change from the original “mature process” to a more advanced 2nm process. Mass production is expected to begin in the second half of 2025, and related plant construction plans will also be announced in the near future.
However, it should be noted that TSMC will hold a law conference on July 20 (Note: Performance Briefing Session for Legal Person Investment Institutions), and the company is currently in a “quiet period before the conference” and will not make any comments on this matter.
Sources pointed out that TSMC’s 2nm requires more investment than the originally planned 28nm. The company has reported to the local area and expressed its hope for assistance in water supply and power supply. Because the 2nm process requires equipment that consumes more power, there is a certain chance that the environmental impact difference analysis will need to be completed again.
It is reported that TSMC’s 2nm process will be 10-15% faster than the 3nm process at the same power consumption, while power consumption can also be reduced by 20-30%. At present, the main production base of the 2nm process is located in Baoshan, Hsinchu, and plans to build 4 factories. It is estimated that risky trial production will begin in 2024 and mass production will begin in the second half of 2025.
It was previously reported that Apple has reserved 90% of TSMC’s 3nm process wafers for the production of A17 Bionic and M3 chips. However, the current yield rate for this advanced process is only 55%. TSMC expects to be able to produce 100,000 3nm wafers per month by the end of 2023 to meet Apple’s demand.
However, with a yield of only 55%, only 55,000 wafers are usable. Apple will only pay the standard wafer price when the yield rate reaches 70%, but according to reports, this is not likely to happen until the first half of 2024.
