2022 Macs, iPads, and iPhones may feature chips built on the 3nm process, as TSMC, Apple’s chip fabricator, is planning to begin mass production for 3nm chips destined for Apple in the second half of next year.
Last August, Dr. Ian Cutress reports for Anandtech that TSMC planned to continue using FinFET transistors vs. newer ‘Gate-All-Around’ technology (GAA-FET) which are more complex to build than FinFETs. TSMC’s 3nm process will use an improved version on FinFET in order to deliver up to 50% performance gain, up to 30% power reduction, and 1.7x density gain over the current 5nm chips. More info here.
Monica Chen and Jessie Shen for DigiTimes:
TSMC is on track to move its 3nm process technology to volume production in the second half of 2022 for Apple’s devices, either iPhones or Mac computers, according to industry sources.
Just two years after unveiling chips based on the 5nm process, Apple may plan to make a direct jump to 3nm as soon as next year.
Apple has already reportedly booked TSMC’s entire production capacity for 4nm chips for Apple silicon Macs. That report, however, has no timeline as to when Macs with 4nm chips may debut.
The A14 Bionic chip, first introduced in an updated iPad Air and later put into the iPhone 12 series, is built on the 5nm process. Compared to earlier processes, the smaller architecture provides improved performance and increased energy efficiency.
MacDailyNews Take: 3nm is really getting down there! If all goes well, the speed and efficiency of Apple’s Macs, iPads, and iPhones will remain unmatched for years to come.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]