TSMC is one of the major players in the chip foundry business. The Taiwanese manufacturer’s manufacturing process is one of the most advanced in the world. According to reports, TSMC 3nm manufacturing process has commenced trial production. There are also reports that this manufacturing process will commence mass production in the fourth quarter of next year. The commencement of the trial production of the TSMC 3nm process is in line with its expectations.
In its recent quarterly earnings conference call, TSMC CEO, Wei Zhejia, revealed that the 3nm process technology will commence trial production in 2021. He also claims that the mass production of this manufacturing process will start in the second half of 2022.
If the information disclosed by industry chain people is true, Wei Zhejia may disclose the news of the 3nm process risk trial production in the financial report analyst conference call in January next year. In the second-quarter earnings report in July of this year, Wei Zhejia revealed that the 4nm process has been in trial production in the third quarter.
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Sources who revealed that TSMC’s 3nm process has begun trial production, also revealed that TSMC’s 3nm process was produced on a trial basis at the Fab 18. Fab 18 is also the main production plant for the 3nm process announced on TSMC’s official website. TSMC stated on its official website that the 3nm process is a complete process node span after 5nm. For the 3nm process foundry chips, the theoretical density of transistors will increase by 70% relative to 5nm. Furthermore, the operating speed will increase by 15%, and the energy efficiency will increase by 30%.
TSMC is still ahead of the competition
Samsung is TSMC’s main rival in the chip manufacturing business. The South Korean company introduced the 3GAE (3nm Gate-All-Around Early) and 3GAP (3nm Gate-All-Around Plus) nodes a couple of years ago. These processes promise significant power savings and improved overall performance. Introducing the technology, the company claims that the 3nm process technology will offer a 35% increase in performance. It will also offer a 50% reduction in energy consumption compared to the 7LPP process technology.
According to recent reports, Samsung will commence trial production of its 3nm process no earlier than 2022. The company also plans to release 2nm chips but not earlier than 2025. The postponement of the introduction of the new technical process is due to the fact that the chip makers face a more important task – to cope with the shortage of chips. The priorities are to satisfy the demand for processors, not to rush to introduce new technologies.