“TSMC is now Apple’s primary processor manufacturing partner, churning out 7-nanometer (nm) A13 chips for iPhones – and it may be producing 3nm chips for iPhones by 2023,” Jonny Evans writes for Computerworld:
It’s thought that Apple will migrate to 5nm processors in 2020 following comments from TSMC CFO Lora Ho, who revealed his company has become “more aggressive” on the move to manufacture these chips… This should be useful as Apple attempts to handle the new power requirements of 5G solutions as it begins to field them in late 2020.
TSMC has begun construction of a 3nm fabrication facility at the Southern Taiwan Science and Technology Park, Tainan, Taiwan. This is a huge investment – figures approaching $20 billion are cited – and mass production is expected to begin by late 2022 or early 2023. That’s right on schedule for a follow-up to next year’s anticipated 5nm A14 (if speculation matches reality).
MacDailyNews Take: We can’t wait to see the first Apple-powered Mac!
Think code convergence (more so than today) with UI modifications per device. A unified underlying codebase for Intel, Apple A-series, and, in Apple’s labs, likely other chips, too (just in case). This would allow for a single App Store for Mac, iPhone, and iPad users that features a mix of apps: Some that are touch-only, some that are Mac-only, and some that are universal (can run on both traditional notebooks and desktops as well as on multi-touch computers like iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and – pretty please, Apple – Apple TV). Don’t be surprised to see Apple A-series-powered Macs, either. — MacDailyNews Take, January 9, 2014