TSMC revealed its chip production roadmap in June this year. Back then, the company said it plans to launch 3nm chips in the second half of the year without giving a specific timeline. Media reports later stated that the firm is aiming for a September timeline for the first production batch. However, due to reasons best known to TSMC itself, it has delayed the plans to the fourth quarter. The Taiwanese giant may not be ready for high-volume 3nm production anytime soon, though. According to the new report, TSMC says its initial 3nm supply would be lower than market demand. While the ongoing supply chain disruptions are partly to blame, the company’s production won’t likely be at full capacity either. Much of the production will be for Apple’s next-gen M3 chips for Macs and A17 chips for iPhones. Perhaps Apple could be the only client for TSMC’s initial 3nm production.
TSMC delaying 3nm production may help Samsung regain some of the lost ground
TSMC recently overtook Samsung to the top spot in global semiconductor sales. The latter’s semiconductor revenue took a hit due to declining memory chip prices. Perhaps its over-reliance on memory chips allowed TSMC to leapfrog it. However, the Taiwanese firm delaying its 3nm production and seemingly keeping production low for the next year may now enable Samsung to bounce back. The latter has already begun 3nm production and is gearing up to increase production volume next year while simultaneously improving performance and power efficiency. Samsung is also switching to the GAA (Gate-All-Around) chip fabrication architecture for its 3nm solutions. The new architecture is said to bring performance, size, and power efficiency improvements over the current FinFET architecture that TSMC’s 3nm chips employ. Going forward, Samsung is aiming to start manufacturing 2nm semiconductor chips by 2025 and 1.4nm chips by 2027. Its 2nm solutions will feature backside power delivery for simultaneous power and communication through both sides, enabling a performance boost. Intel is also working on this technology. TSMC also plans to match Samsung by launching 2nm chips in 2025 but hasn’t revealed any roadmap beyond that. Its 2nm solutions will employ the GAA architecture.
