Report: Apple will be first to receive TSMC’s 2nm chips starting in 2025،
In 2020, Apple's A14 Bionic chipset and Huawei's Kirin 9000 SoC were the first chips manufactured by TSMC using its 5nm process node. Last year, TSMC produced the only 3nm chip used in a smartphone, the A17 Pro, which currently powers the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. As the size of process nodes decreases, the transistors used by a chip become smaller, meaning more of them can fit into the component. The higher the number of transistors in a chip, the more powerful and/or energy efficient the chip.
For example, when TSMC upgraded from 5nm to 3nm for the A17 Pro SoC, CPU speeds were 10% faster, GPU speeds increased by 20%, and the Neural Engine was 2x faster on the iPhone.
The Apple A17 Pro application processor manufactured by TSMC is the only 3nm chipset currently used by a smartphone
Just as Apple was the first (and so far only) phone maker to use a 3nm chipset to power some of its smartphones, DigiTimes (via MacRumors) indicates that the company will be the first to use a chipset produced using the 2nm process node once TSMC begins using 2nm to build chips for its customers in the second half of 2025. Production 2 nm from TSMC will launch its Gate-all-around (GAA). transistors that use horizontal nanosheets stacked vertically to allow the gate to cover the channel on all four sides. This reduces current leakage and increases the drive current.
Samsung Foundry already uses GAA transistors with its 3nm chips, but TSMC won't do so until its 2nm production begins. To accommodate the move to 2nm, TSMC is building two new factories (chip manufacturing facilities) and seeking permission to build a third. Building the factories for 2nm production will cost TSMC billions of dollars. But before getting to 2nm, TSMC will use improved versions of its 3nm node. Last year's 3nm N3B process node will become this year's upgraded N3E node and the following year's N3P node. This takes us to 2nm by the second half of 2025. Last month, TSMC showed Apple a prototype 2nm chip.
And after 2nm, TSMC is expected to feature a 1.4nm process node starting in 2027. According to MacRumors, Apple is already looking to reserve production capacity for the first year of 1.4nm capacity and 1.4nm capacity. nm. Apple is TSMC's largest customer and is expected to receive a discount on wafer prices, which are expected to reach $25,000 for a 12-inch silicon wafer for 2nm production in 2025.
