Apple will be the first company to have access to chips built on TSMC’s future 2-nanometer process, DigiTimes said today. The site says its sources tell it that Apple is “widely believed to be the initial client to utilize the process.”
Production of TSMC’s 2nm chips is expected to begin in the second half of 2025. Apple currently uses 3nm chips from the company in many of its products. The decrease in node size allows for a smaller transistor size, allowing more transistors to fit on a processor, and providing increased speeds and more efficient power consumption.
Apple currently uses the 3-nanometer A17 Pro chip in its iPhone 15 Pro models and the M3 series chips in Macs are built on the 3-nanometer node, an upgrade over the prior 5nm node. This brought 20% faster GPU speeds, 10% faster CPU speeds, and a 2x faster Neural Engine to the iPhone, as well as similar improvements to the Mac.
TSMC is spending billions on the change and is building two new facilities to handle 2nm chip production while waiting for approval on a third facility. The transition to 2nm will see TSMC adopting GAAFET (gate-all-around field-effect transistors) with nanosheets instead of FinFET, making the manufacturing process more complex. GAAFETs allow for faster speeds thanks to a smaller transistor size and lower operational voltage.
Apple is TSMC’s main client and typically gets the first crack at TSMC’s new chips. Apple used TSMC’s entire 3-nanometer chip production in 2023 for its devices.
TSMC will also be introducing several new 3nm improvements. While the company has already released N3E and N3P chips built using the enhanced 3nm processes, there are other chips in the works, including the N3X for high-performance computing and N3AE for automotive applications.