TSMC Expected to Begin 3nm Chip Production in Late 2022 Ahead of First M3 Macs

[MacRumors]

TSMC plans to begin commercial production of chips built on its 3nm process in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to industry sources cited by DigiTimes. The full report has yet to be published, so no additional details are available at this time.

Apple is expected to release its first devices with 3nm chips fabricated by TSMC in 2023, including Macs with M3 chips and iPhone 15 models with A17 chips. As usual, the move to a more advanced process will result in improved performance and power efficiency, which will enable faster speeds and longer battery life on future Macs and iPhones.

The Information's Wayne Ma last month reported that some M3 chips will have up to four dies, which he said could allow for up to a 40-core CPU. By comparison, the M1 chip has an 8-core CPU and the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips have 10-core CPUs.

M1 Macs already offer industry-leading performance-per-watt, while the A15 chip in iPhone 13 models is the fastest processor ever in a smartphone, so the move to a 3nm process within a few years should only bolster Apple's lead in this area.

Article Link: TSMC Expected to Begin 3nm Chip Production in Late 2022 Ahead of First M3 Macs

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Great news. Ahead of the schedule.

👏☝️🙌

 

[Wxchaser]

Moore's law being overwhelmed. Go TSMC!

Other fabs are being built as quickly as possible.

 

[djcerla]

Cue BMW suing Apple: “too fast, can create brand confusion”.

 

[JPack]

Lines up with the previous report that 3nm would first debut in iPad Pro. Some people refused to believe it because it didn't fit their conventional thinking that iPhones must have the latest litho tech. It's pretty clear that TSMC is starting to slip as they usually begin production of new major nodes in Q2.

Apple Likely to Debut Next-Gen 3nm Chip Technology in 2022 iPad Pro

Apple will launch an iPad next year featuring a processor based on chipmaking partner TSMC's next-generation 3-nanometer process, according to a...

www.macrumors.com

 

[Wxchaser]

Lithography at that small scale (3 nm) is an engineering feat!

 

[gsmornot]

It seems each year this is reduced by 1. Once they do hit 1nm what happens next. I know its not zero, it must become a decimal of the size or is there a smaller unit of measure to switch to. Must be option two now that I type it out.

 

[Realityck]

TSMC stated on its official website that the 3nm process is a complete process node span after 5nm. For the 3nm process foundry chips, the theoretical density of transistors will increase by 70% relative to 5nm. Furthermore, the operating speed will increase by 15%, and the energy efficiency will increase by 30%.

 

[bsimpsen]

Technology Node - WikiChip

The technology node (also process node, process technology or simply node) refers to a specific semiconductor manufacturing process and its design rules. Different nodes often imply different circuit generations and architectures. Generally, the smaller the technology node means the smaller the...

en.wikichip.org

 

[ooans]

Wow... Kinda embarrased that I own an M1 based Mac. Nearly obsolete!

 

[mozumder]

Lithography at that small scale (3 nm) is an engineering feat!

They're not doing lithography at 3nm. That's just a node name.

 

[alpi123]

Lines up with the previous report that 3nm would first debut in iPad Pro. Some people refused to believe it because it didn't fit their conventional thinking that iPhones must have the latest litho tech. It's pretty clear that TSMC is starting to slip as they usually begin production of new major nodes in Q2.

Apple Likely to Debut Next-Gen 3nm Chip Technology in 2022 iPad Pro

Apple will launch an iPad next year featuring a processor based on chipmaking partner TSMC's next-generation 3-nanometer process, according to a...

www.macrumors.com

Do you realize that the chips must be produced months before they start assembling devices?

As the title says, if they start producing the chips in late 2022, there's no way they would be ready in the next year's iPad Pro. Most likely the 2023 one.

 

[Bug-Creator]

Lines up with the previous report that 3nm

No it doesn't.

One report is about a 2022 IPP which would suggest an M2, while the other tells us that 3nm will start late next year meaning product would ship in Q1 2023 or later (which would explain the "M3" part).

-> everybody is stabbing in the fog and making news out of know unknowns and unknown knowns....

 

[hoorayforhollywood]

Okay, seeing as it's Christmas and just as a bit of fun, could someone with some time and more knowledge than me estimate just how much more powerful an M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max will be compared to the M1, M1 Pro and M1 Max? And seeing as the M1s can handle 8k video without breaking stride, what will the practical advantages of the M3 variants be? It's like the future has landed. Indulge us with benchmark estimates!!! Wow us with battery life improvement gains! Glad tidings to all!

 

[munpip214]

Based on chip shortages for other components, labor issues, country tensions, and just Covid effects in general I think we can say that 2023 would be the earliest we would see 3nm, probably end of the year or 2024

 

[Realityck]

Lithography at that small scale (3 nm) is an engineering feat!

How Are Process Nodes Defined? | ExtremeTech

We talk about process nodes a lot at ExtremeTech, but we don't always drill down into how nodes are defined ...

www.extremetech.com

The best way to understand the meaning of a new process node is to think of it as an umbrella term. When a foundry talks about rolling out a new process node, what they are saying boils down to this:

“We have created a new manufacturing process with smaller features and tighter tolerances. In order to achieve this goal, we have integrated new manufacturing technologies. We refer to this set of new manufacturing technologies as a process node because we want an umbrella term that allows us to capture the idea of progress and improved capability.”

 

[dannys1]

Maybe they'll have caught up with production of 24-inch iMacs and M1 Max/Pro MacBook Pros by then...

 

[Haifisch]

I haven't even taken delivery of my M1 max and they're already working on its replacement. sigh.....

 

[HiVolt]

How about we talk about M2 first which is not released yet.

 

[JPack]

No it doesn't.

One report is about a 2022 IPP which would suggest an M2, while the other tells us that 3nm will start late next year meaning product would ship in Q1 2023 or later (which would explain the "M3" part).

-> everybody is stabbing in the fog and making news out of know unknowns and unknown knowns....

I don't expect iPad Pro to use M2, but rather a 3nm M2X.

iPad Pro already has a higher base price than MacBook Air and I doubt Apple will continue using a high wattage design in their most expensive tablets.

 

[bradman83]

Okay, seeing as it's Christmas and just as a bit of fun, could someone with some time and more knowledge than me estimate just how much more powerful an M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max will be compared to the M1, M1 Pro and M1 Max? And seeing as the M1s can handle 8k video without breaking stride, what will the practical advantages of the M3 variants be? It's like the future has landed. Indulge us with benchmark estimates!!! Wow us with battery life improvement gains! Glad tidings to all!

It depends on whether Apple skips A-series core generations with each M-series generation. More recent A-series chips see about a 10-15% boost in CPU speed per generation, but with larger boosts in graphics. If we go with the assumption that each M-series generation matches the A series generation-for-generation then an M2 Mac would have a single core Geekbench score of about 1800-ish and an M3 would potentially be pushing 2100. But if Apple decides to do an 18-24 month refresh cycle on M processors and only use even numbered A series chips then the M2 would be closer to 1900-2000 single core and the M3 could hit 2500, but the catch would be the M3 might not materialize until 2024 or later with the A18.

The biggest performance boost will be going from Intel to M-series just by virtue of Apple’s optimizations and sheer efficiency gains, with lesser gains coming from each successive M-series generation (just like where the iPhone is at now). Going from an M1 to an M3 will certainly give a performance boost but the M1 is already faster than most average consumers need half the time.

 

[bergert]

Dear CEO of INTEL. To go from 4 to 6 cores of your XEON I paid $1000 INTEL-tax (OK, plus upgrade from D300 to D500 GPU). Yet, it is beaten handily my an iPhone chip consuming 20W. Don't put big words in your mouth how you want to "do business with Apple" - you had more than 10 years to produce a reasonable fast CPU; and all you have are lame excuses for a product which still costs top $$$. Go to the corner, think about how your failed miserably, and shut the f*ck up.

 

[Eric_WVGG]

It’s going to be interesting to see if the Mac consumer upgrade cycle decreases as a result of the Apple Silicon change.

Back in the nineties and early 2000’s, it seemed uncommon for a laptop to be useful for more than about two years. The rate of change was such that anything became unusable within that period, and often didn't even have the necessary specs to run new software.

That hasn't been the case for close to a decade now. Average computers still run great between 8 (really!) and 16gb RAM, maybe 32 for power users. My last computer, a 2016 MBP, was great for five years; my brother-in-law just informed me that he was finally replacing his 2013 MBP with an M1(!!).

I don't expect software needs to catch up with Apple Silicon speed any time soon (if ever), but one of the fascinating and under-reported things about M1 processors is that they don't just run faster than Intel chips, they do different things. There is no Intel "Neural Engine," for example. Afterburner cards haven't exactly taken off, but it's an interesting concept that has only just been tried.

While I can pretty much promise that I won't be replacing this M1Pro with an M2Pro next year, I can't say the same for the M3Pro. It might not just be faster — it could also be new in a way that wasn't possible in the Intel era.

 

[JPack]

Do you realize that the chips must be produced months before they start assembling devices?

As the title says, if they start producing the chips in late 2022, there's no way they would be ready in the next year's iPad Pro. Most likely the 2023 one.

The dates may slip, but I don't think the overall picture will change with regards to which devices adopt 3nm first.

 

[akbarali.ch]

Sounds weird to me, M1 is being dragged to 2 years with M1 Pro and M1 Max release recently hsving atleast 1 year of shelf life. How come within 1 year they will release M2 and then go on for M3 by end of same year. I think it will make sense to have m2 in September/October as usual followed by M2 Pro and M2 Max