TSMC is unstoppable in its new technology. It has already produced 5nm in volume this year, and the next big milestone is 3nm. It has already announced that it will start large-scale production in 2022.Today, TSMC announced that an enhanced version of the 3nm process, called 3nm Plus, will be launched by apple in 2023.
If Apple continues to produce a year's worth of chips, the 3nm Plus process by 2023 will be the A17.
TSMC did not say how the 3nm Plus will be different from the 3nm Plus, but it will obviously have a higher transistor density, lower power consumption and higher operating frequency.
According to TSMC, the 3nm process delivers up to 70 per cent more transistor density, or up to 15 per cent more performance, or up to 30 per cent less power than the 5nm process.
In addition, TSMC has recently made a major internal breakthrough in the 2nm process, and is expected to launch a risky pilot production in the second half of 2023 and a mass production in 2024, while continuing to enter the 1nm process.
TSMC will continue FinFET(fin-fET) at 3nm and introduce for the first time a new MBCFET(multi-bridge channel fET), or nanosheet, at 2nm, which can be viewed as a leap from 2d to 3D, greatly improving circuit control and reducing leakage rates.