TSMC is on schedule, 3nm engraving is coming this year

At the beginning of 2021, TSMC announced that it would soon be ready to start burning its chips at 3nm. A resounding declaration when its competitors had just taken the 5nm step. As might be expected in the current context, this deployment has taken a bit of a delay, but remains on a good dynamic; the Taiwanese founder has just indicated that the first 3nm chips should leave the production lines before the end of the year.

“We expect the rise of 3nm to be driven by high-performance computing (HPC) and smartphone applications”, explains CEO CC Wei in a press release relayed by MacRumors.

According to TSMC, this new architecture will be 70% denser. The founder claims that this will result in a significant increase in performance; it announces 15% more gross power and an energy bill reduced by around 30%.

Apple among the first served

According to various sources quoted by DigiTimes and again relayed by MacRumors, the foundry should produce between 30,000 to 35,000 units engraved in 3nm per month. Initially, they will mainly equip HPC equipment. So don’t expect to see these chips hitting mainstream hardware for some time.

But that does not mean that this announcement is anecdotal, far from it. Some products will still benefit relatively quickly. Many observers, particularly on the side of Nikkei Asia, expect Apple to open the ball this year with a new iPad engraved in 3nm. In any case, the majority of Apple devices should inherit a chip (M3 or A17) engraved in 3nm from 2023.

A crucial decade for the hardware ecosystem

But the most interesting will certainly be to observe the duel of titans that awaits TSMC and Intel by the end of the decade. Indeed, TSMC also took the opportunity to announce that the next generation, with a 2nm engraving process, would arrive around 2026… and this is a date that could weigh heavily.

Indeed, TSMC is starting to have company in this segment. As part of CEO Pat Gelsinger’s IDM 2.0 strategy, Intel is gradually evolving into a leading manufacturer for the rest of the industry; he hopes so shake the monopoly of the Taiwanesewho still dominates his subject head and shoulders.

Based on its current roadmap, Intel expects to release its first 2nm (20A gen) and 1.8nm (18A gen) products by 2024. And for once, that timeline seems pretty reasonable when we observe the tens of billions disbursed by Intel to lay the logistical bases of its new strategy (see our article).

Hardware enthusiasts should therefore keep their eyes and ears open, as the landscape of this industry could be significantly changed in just a few years; we therefore give you an appointment with the release of the first 3nm chips, then around 2025 to have the first answers on the face of the Big Tech of the future.