TSMC: 3nm chip will be launched in the second half of this year.

Economic Observation Network reporter Shen Yiran on August 18th, Chen Fang, deputy director of TSMC (China) Co., Ltd., said at the World Semiconductor Conference in 2022 that the N3 (also known as 3nm) chip will be mass -produced in the second half of this year, and some movement has been moved to some movement. Customers in the field of HPC (High Performance Computing) are delivered. If customers with mobile phones use 3nm chips at the moment, products will come out next year.

TSMC has occupied more than half of the world's chip production capacity, especially in the field of advanced chips with 14nm and below. The only thing that can compete with TSMC in advanced technology is Samsung Electronics. According to Bloomberg, Samsung Electronics also stated that it was mass -produced 3nm chips in the second half of this year, but there was no news from customers.

3nm technology is already the "uninhabited" of global semiconductors. According to the TSMC technology roadmap, the previous generation of the 3nm chip is a 5nm chip, and TSMC 5nm chip has been mass -produced in 2020. Compared with 5nm, the wafer density of the 3nm chip is 1.3 times higher, the power consumption is reduced by 30-35%at the same speed, and the speed of the same power consumption increases by 15-20%. Due to the significant speed and power consumption of 3nm, the company found that many customers from mobile and HPC are actively adopted. The company expects that 3nm NTO (New Tape Out, refers to the new product streaming) is twice that of 5nm in the same period at the same time. Essence

According to the technical roadmap provided by TSMC, after N3, the company will continue to launch three versions of N3E, N3P, and N3X. For example, N3E is an enhanced version of the N3 chip, which will also provide complete platform support for smartphones and HPC applications. TSMC stated at the financial report in the second quarter of this year that N3E's customers have a high degree of participation, and the mass production plans will be carried out in about one year after N3. It is expected that these three versions will enter mass production by 2025.

Chen Fang said that the innovation of the 3nm series is mainly because this process uses Finflex technology, which can maintain the balance and power consumption of speed and power consumption when the density is enhanced.

TSMC 2nm chip is also planned. Chen Fang said that compared with N3E, 2nm components will increase by 10%-15%at the same power consumption, and 25%-30%of power consumption will be reduced at the same speed. The density of the wafer is 1.1 times higher, and the 2NM chip is expected to enter mass production in 2025.

Chen Min, the technical director of TSMC (China) Co., Ltd., said at the meeting that TSMC is still increasing the production layout of globalization. According to public information, 3nm and 2nm are produced in Hsinchu and Tainan, Taiwan, China. Generally speaking, the production capacity of advanced process chips with 7nm and below TSMC is distributed in Taiwan and the United States, China, and relatively mature chip processes distributed in Taiwan, Nanjing, China, and Japan.

The speed of production capacity expansion is accelerating. Su Hua, manager of TSMC (Nanjing) Co., Ltd., said that since 2020, TSMC's number of new factories has increased from 2 to 6 every year. Capacity.

Semiconductor technology evolves along Moore's law. TSMC's 2nm is investing in the world's cutting -edge chip technology, but this does not mean that mature chips will be eliminated. Chen Min said that under the blessing of AI and 5G, semiconductors are used by more industries such as automobiles and industries. These industries not only use advanced chips, but also have increased demand for mature chips. Therefore, TSMC's strategy is to continue to develop the most advanced technology to provide customers with the most advanced chips, and at the same time increase investment in mature process chips.

Chen Min said that due to the impact of epidemic and geopolitics, supply chain management has become increasingly important. More customers need to increase the supply chain spiritual activity by adjusting the inventory method, but also need to achieve a balance between increasing the spiritual activity of the supply chain and increasing costs. The cooperation with the supply chain is also the secret of TSMC's success. TSMC's attitude is still to establish a long -term partnership with customers, which will not change.

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