Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited or TSMC is a leading chipmaking company that manufactures chipsets for Qualcomm, Huawei, Apple, etc. The Taiwan-based company is working on the next advanced 5nm node to manufacture future chipsets and according to its timeline, the company has already started risk production and expects to ship out mass production for the next-gen 5nm chipsets by the first half of next year.
When compared to the 7nm manufacturing node which was used in Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 and Kirin 980 AI chip as well, the 5nm node will offer up to 45% reduction in area and 15% higher performance along with other improvements that will be shipped out with it.
Apart from the 5nm chipsets, TSMC is also working on refined and improved next-gen 7nm+ node using EUV technology since the previous 7nm chipsets weren’t able to use EUV technology due to some problems. The EUV technology used in 7nm+ chipsets will offer 20% higher transistor density along with 12% reduction in power consumption when compared to the currently used 7nm process which is a huge win over limitations.
It is a known fact that the Taiwan-based chipmaking giant is Apple’s sole chip supplier till 2020 where it manufactures 7nm Apple A12 Bionic chips and currently moving on to the next Apple A13 chipsets for 2019 iPhones which could either use 7nm+ or 5nm node for sure. Further, Qualcomm is also contracting TSMC to manufacture Snapdragon 855 which is the premium chipset for flagship smartphones.
Keeping all types of chipsets aside, TSMC is also in works in developing 5nm+ chipsets that will be refined, improved and attuned version of the 5nm chipsets that will bring in a reduction in area, power consumption, increase in performance and more. The 5nm+ process is expected to start risk production in the first quarter of 2020 followed by mass production in 2021.
However, the question arises, what after 5nm chipsets? Could TSMC or any other chipmunking giant manufacture a 3nm chip since we are already pushing the limits of how many transistors a chip can hold even though we have been able to reduce the size of transistors to a mere 5nm across (5nm chipset) as we are reaching the top of Moore’s Law here? Anyways, whatever it is, you’ll get to know more about the technology here on True-Tech for sure.
