TSMC Will Manufacture 3-nm Chips Next Month

According to reports, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TSMC) will begin mass production of chips using its leading N3 (3-nanometer) manufacturing process in September this year. This contract chipmaker will deliver the first products built using its N3 node to its customers early next year.

TSMC has traditionally started high-volume manufacturing (HVM) of new nodes sometime between March and May to supply enough chips for Apple’s latest iPhone production, which usually launches in September. But TSMC’s N3 node is taking longer than usual to develop, and Apple’s upcoming smartphone chips will use the different nodes. By contrast, TSMC’s first 3-nanometer chips will hit the HVM milestone in September, which is a little later than TSMC initially promised (a delay of several months compared to typical timelines). Even so, the company will achieve its goal of starting N3 production in the second half of the year.

Compared to the original N5 fabrication technology, the original N3 fabrication process is expected to provide a 10% to 15% increase in performance (at the same power and complexity) and reduce power consumption by 25%-30% (at the same speed and transistor count) and increase logic density by a factor of about 1.6.

This original N3 node offers a narrow process window, which means a lower-than-expected yield for some designs. At the same time, TSMC is developing the N3E node with an improved process window, which is characterized by slightly lower transistor density. The technology is expected to enter mass production phase about a year after the N3 node, and there are signs that N3E will reach HVM sooner or later. TSMC will finally add N3P, N3S and N3X nodes to its 3nm chip lineup.

TSMC’s FinFlex technology is one of the key features of the N3, which enables chip developers to mix and match different types of standard cells within a single module to precisely optimize performance, power consumption and area. FinFlex is especially beneficial for complex things like CPU or GPU cores, so companies such as Apple, AMD, Intel, and Nvidia will be able to build better processors and graphics processors for Personal Computers (PC) and high-performance computing applications.

Smart Phone maker Apple is expected to be TSMC’s first customer with its latest N3 fabrication process application.