According to DigiTimes, some semiconductor equipment manufacturers said that TSMC’s 2nm GAA process performed amazingly, so customers urgently corrected the blueprint. It is said that TSMC’s 3nm production capacity in 2023 will still be dominated by N3 (N3B), and the overall yield will be close to 75%.
Since TSMC’s 3nm is not much different from 4nm under the performance of PPA, and the quotation of 3nm has risen to 20,000 US dollars, although only Apple can enjoy a 20% discount, but there are already many customers revised the process planning, adjusted the production and orders, including lengthening the 4/5nm generation cycle, slowing down the progress of N3E and N3P adoption, and waiting for the 2nm GAA process generation to re-deposit.
He believes that although TSMC’s production capacity layout may be disrupted, customers have a higher degree of stickiness and are quite confident in the 2nm GAA generation. Almost all customers who have adopted 4/3nm have 2nm production plans.
According to previous news, Apple has almost rounded up nearly 90% of TSMC’s first-generation 3-nanometer process capacity this year for future iPhone, Mac and iPad chips.
Apple’s upcoming iPhone 15 Pro series models are expected to feature the A17 Bionic processor, Apple’s first iPhone chip based on TSMC’s first-generation 3-nanometer process, also known as N3B. The 3-nanometer technology is said to be 35% more energy efficient and 15% more performant than the 4-nanometer process used to make the A16 Bionic chip in the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max.
Apple’s M3 chip for Macs and iPads is also expected to use a 3nm process. The first devices to feature the M3 are expected to include the new 13-inch MacBook Air and 24-inch iMac, both of which could arrive later this year. New iPad Pro models due next year may also feature the M3 chip, while Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models due in 2024 will feature the M3 Pro and M3 Max chips.
According to an App Store developer log obtained by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is currently testing a new chip with a 12-core CPU, 18-core GPU and 36GB of memory, which could be the next generation of 14-inch and The base M3 Pro chip found in the 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
According to DigiTimes, TSMC is also working on a more advanced 3nm process called N3E. Apple devices will eventually switch to the N3E process, which is expected to begin commercial production in the second half of 2023, but actual shipments will not ramp up until 2024.
