TSMC shares first details about 3nm process and wants to start test production in 2021
TSMC has shared details about its N3 node for the first time. In 2021, the manufacturer will start risk production of 3nm chips. More large-scale production will follow in the second half of 2022. In addition, the company expects an increase in the production of 5nm chips this year.
The first details about the so-called N3 node were shared in an earnings call with investors, outlined by WikiChip. This 3nm process is made with finfets, the Taiwanese chip manufacturer reports. The company said it considered “multiple technologies” but ultimately decided to stick with finfets because of the “maturity” and performance of that technology. The use of finfets would also be more financially beneficial.
The N3 node is expected to have an increased density of 70 percent over TSMC’s 5nm process. According to WikiChip, this amounts to about 291 million transistors per square millimeter. To illustrate: the chip manufacturer’s current 7nm process has 91 million transistors per square millimeter. The N5 process at 5nm has about 171 million transistors every mm², WikiChip writes.
Compared to the N5 node, the 3nm process should perform 10 to 15 percent better at equivalent power consumption, according to the TSMC. At the same speed, the N3 node consumes 25 to 30 percent less power than the 5nm process. The chip manufacturer will start so-called risk production of the N3 node in 2021. More large-scale production should start in the second half of 2022.
The (expected) density of TSMC processes up to 3nm. Image by WikiChip
TSMC also expects to see a very rapid increase in production of 5nm chips for mobile devices and high-performance computing, also known as HPC. This market consists, for example, of servers, supercomputers, network equipment and other enterprise devices. The company has already started production of 5nm chips and reports good yields. Apple, among others, is expected to purchase 5nm chips for the upcoming iPhones this year. AMD would also like to book 5nm production capacity by the end of this year, but that does not mean that we will already see AMD products on this process this year. For example, the Zen 4 architecture based on 5nm is planned for 2022. The N5 node should account for 10 percent of the semiconductor producer’s wafer revenues by 2020, the company reports.
Furthermore, the manufacturer notes a growth of 7nm decrease. In the first quarter of 2020, TSMC’s 7nm offering accounted for 35 percent of wafer revenue. The company had a turnover of approximately USD 10.31 billion in the past quarter, or approximately EUR 9.48 billion. That is 0.8 percent less than the previous quarter, when the chip maker posted sales of $10.54 billion. In the first quarter of 2019, the chip manufacturer’s turnover amounted to 7.10 billion dollars.
In the past quarter, revenues from smartphone chip sales fell by 9 percent, making such chips worth 49 percent of total revenue. The company expects smartphone chip revenues to remain “weak” in the second quarter of 2020. Revenues from consumer desktop products rose 44 percent. This market segment now accounts for approximately 5 percent of total sales.
The company estimates that it will generate about $10.4 billion in total revenue in the next quarter. The manufacturer expects lower turnover in the second half of 2020. Among other things, this would be due to the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which may prevent the semiconductor producer’s production capacity from being fully utilized, reports Wendell Huang, vice president of TSMC.
Images by WikiChip