TSMC to Have Various 3nm Tiers Planned for the Future, Less Expensive iPhone 16 Models May Use First-Generation 3nm Chips in 2024
A Morgan Stanley report covered by Charlie Chan’s team and spotted by Economic Daily News talks about TSMC’s 3nm expansion plans. Unfortunately, the chip wafer manufacturer is said to reduce the production capacity of its cutting-edge node from 80,000 wafers down to 60,000 wafers per month. Even then, that is a massive output, most of which is going to be used by Apple for its iPhone chips in 2024. The technology giant has been reported previously to shift to TSMC’s 3nm chips for all iPhones in 2024, but here is where most of the readers may get confused. TSMC has several 3nm tiers prepared for clients like Apple, each iteration better than the one before. Assuming the company’s plans to launch four new iPhone models remain unhindered, the less expensive iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus will likely use an SoC mass-produced on the first-generation 3nm process, while the ‘Pro’ lineup could jump to the more power-efficient second-generation variant. As it so happens, Apple is rumored to use TSMC’s second-generation 3nm process for mass producing the M3 and A17 Bionic, with both chipsets expected to launch next year, but it is possible the Cupertino behemoth may reserve the new manufacturing process for the A18 Bionic for 2024. Of course, all of this depends on if TSMC can continue churning the same number of wafers per month without running into production roadblocks since clients like Qualcomm and MediaTek will also want to use that technology for their own mobile silicon. With that being said, it is too early to talk about such plans, so we recommend that you treat this information with a pinch of salt, and we will be back with more updates. Image Credits - iFixit News Source: Economic Daily News
