Oliver Haslam on April 15, 2022, 11:45 pm

Apple Supplier TSMC Is On Track For 3nm Chip Production By Year’s End

TSMC, the supplier of chips for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and more, is reportedly on track to be able to produce 3nm chips in the second half of this year. The next-generation manufacturing process will potentially allow for lower power draw and lower heat creation.

According to a DigiTimes report, TSMC expects to be able to process up to 35,000 wafers that are manufactured on the new 3nm process each month.

MacRumors reported on the DigiTimes paywalled text.

“We expect the ramp of N3 to be driven by both HPC [high performance computing] and smartphone applications,” said Wei during an April 14 earnings conference call. “We continue to see a high level of customer engagement at N3 and expect more new tape-outs for N3 for the first year as compared with N5 and N7.”

A previous report by Nikkei Asia had suggested that Apple would launch a new iPad using the 3nm chip manufacturing process as soon as this year. It seems likely that Apple will then switch to the same manufacturing process for a future iPhone, too.

While the move to a smaller manufacturing process doesn’t necessarily allow for faster chips on its own, it does often lead to them. The chips tend to require less power and also generate less heat, allowing them to be clocked at a higher speed without concerns about power draw or heat dissipation.