Allen
Hotshot
Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 8,839
Ohio USA
Quote
TSMC builds 3nm Fab in Taiwan
TSMC will build the 'world's first' semiconductor plant to support the creation of 3nm node silicon chips in Taiwan.
The company has a 5nm fab in the same location even if it has not started producing 5nm chips yet. These are “scheduled to start risk production in the second quarter of 2019"
I always figured that 3nm (or close to it) would be the smallest the industry could go with Silicon CPUs.
I imagine TSMC's first 3nm consumer parts won't reach shelves for several years (first build factory, then figure out 3nm, then come up with working products). We'll see if 3nm eventually includes CPUs and GPUs (I still figure it will).
TSMC is one of AMD's suppliers. So, if they figure out 3nm, AMD will have 3nm parts eventually. Moreover, TSMC 5nm for AMD may be only a few years away.
I'm glad AMD is rumored to be taking the chance and skipping 10nm to go straight to 7nm (already designing chips for 7nm). That may make AMD slightly more ready than their competitors to move to 5nm and, eventually, 3nm (Intel's next step is supposedly 10nm and has been rumored to be delayed by problems).
By 2025 (maybe sooner) we should know how this has turned out