Digitimes: TSMC will start mass production on the 3nm process later this week

TSMC is said to be planning to start the first mass production on its 3nm process later this week. The Taiwanese manufacturer was already scheduled to start this in the second half of 2022.

TSMC plans to hold a ceremony at its Fab 18 production facility in Taiwan on Thursday, December 29. That ceremony would kick off the mass production of chips on TSMC’s 3nm process, writes Digitimes. It also writes that TSMC will announce more on that date about the expansion plans for its 3nm capacity in that factory.

This means that TSMC appears to be barely meeting its own schedule. The company said in early 2021 that mass production of 3nm chips was planned for the second half of 2022.

It is expected that Apple in particular will use the production process in the future. There were previously rumors that all iPhone 16 models would run on 3nm SoCs. It was later also announced that the company had started designing an M3 SoC based on TSMC’s 3nm process. The Macbook 14 and 16, the Mac Studio and Mac Mini would also receive an M3 Pro socket made using that process.