TSMC's first “3nm process” has customers queuing. Seven industry giants want to use this technology stage as soon as possible, but the schedule is said to be difficult. The initial production is said to be very low, although the figures reported from Asia seem too low to be true.
Apple is likely to be the first buyer< /h2>
As expected, Apple is the launch customer of the new production line. There is speculation about an adapted “M2 Pro”, which could be found in the first products in the coming year. Later, the M3 and the A17 for the “iPhone 15” will rely on an N3/N3E solution from TSMC. Here, too, however, there should be appropriate backup plans, such as those that have to take effect this year. Because TSMC's N3 production is too late for the iPhone 14 and the revised A16, an optimized 5 nm solution, probably the classic N4 process, has to be used.
Intel wants to use N3 for graphic tiles
Intel, which has secured N3/N3E production capacities at TSMC for its future products, also wants to be at the forefront. Where exactly this will be used for the first time has recently remained questionable. For a long time there was speculation about the graphic tile, as the manufacturer calls the separate chiplets on the complete package at Meteor Lake in the coming year. However, the recently announced possible downgrading of the GPU specifications from 192 to only 128 EUs could speak for an older, larger and more consuming process, which is why Intel had to slim down the GPU in order to meet all parameters. The latest rumors are that N3 might only be used in the successor Arrow Lake.
All big players are queuing
< p class="p text-width">AMD, Nvidia, Qualcomm, MediaTek and Broadcom are also lined up as other major customers, but mostly with product launch dates from the end of 2023 or not before 2024. Many of these companies should therefore already target N3E, the optimized and improved version of the N3 manufacturing step.
Because the question of the quantity of wafers produced is currently opaque. The initial production for N3 is said to be very small, and TSMC itself has already indicated that no sales will be booked for it in 2022. The big question remains how fast production will increase next year.