Apple’s main chip supplier TSMC will kick off mass production of 3nm chips
According to MacRumors, TSMC started mass production of 3nm chips this week, which are mainly supplied to Apple, and it is speculated that this should be the M2 Pro processor. The information was provided by a report from DigiTimes, which stated that TSMC plans to hold a ceremony at the Fab 18 plant in Hsinchu Science Park on December 29, marking the start of commercial production of 3nm chips. According to some industry insiders, TSMC also plans to expand the production scale of 3nm.
The first batch of 3nm chips will be the M2 Pro, which will first be used in the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, and may also be used in the new Mac Studio and a slightly higher configuration Mac Mini. Given Apple’s habit of announcing some new hardware at WWDC, we could see these refreshed Macs as early as June.
At the same time, Apple’s A16 bionic chip is currently based on TSMC’s 4nm process technology, but it is said that it will be upgraded to 3nm as soon as possible next year. However, compared to the introduction of new color schemes, Apple generally does not specifically emphasize the process technology of the processor used in the iPhone.
Later next year, the A17 bionic processor of M3 and iPhone 15 will be based on TSMC’s N3E process. Of course, this process technology has not yet been launched. The DigiTimes report also pointed out that TSMC does not intend to increase the production of 3nm chips until N3E is available.
Although TSMC’s 3nm process technology has many customers including Apple, AMD, and NVIDIA, Apple should be the first company to use 3nm processors.
