TSMC to Launch its 5 nm Fab by 2020

[btarunr]

Taiwan's premier semiconductor foundry, TSMC, announced that it is on track to begin production of chips on its 7 nanometer silicon fab process by the first half of 2018. The company also announced that production on an even newer 5 nanometer process should commence two years later, in 2020. The company has currently cleared all decks for mass-production of chips on its 16 nm FFC (FinFET compact) node, with the company hoping to grab over 70% of the worldwide 14/16 nm production market-share by the end of 2016.



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[R-T-B]

A tad early to be making claims IMO. A lot could happen between now and then.

 

[xfia]

So I got a new 5nm cpu in the mail and i sliced it in half while cutting the box open.. Thankfully the warranty covered the damage since the cpu is paper thin but the new one they sent me bent pins when I installed the cooler

 

[RejZoR]

Yeah, Intel made same predictions of NetBurst reaching clocks of 15GHz years in the future and then it turned out it was basically melting down at what was the highest clock, 3,2 GHz ?

 

[HumanSmoke]

A tad early to be making claims IMO. A lot could happen between now and then.

Keep an eye on ASML's delivery schedule. Chances are the retooling for at least one of TSMC's Gigafab's would be on schedule, but ASML's delivery of lithography systems would be the key factor - hence TSMC following Intel's lead in investing in ASML to ensure prompt tooling supply. TSMC's pipecleaner for 10nm seems to going OK , and 7nm should use the same tooling.

Yeah, Intel made same predictions of NetBurst reaching clocks of 15GHz years in the future and then it turned out it was basically melting down at what was the highest clock, 3,2 GHz ?

The prediction was actually 10GHz (by 2011) - AMD also made a similar statement in reaction to the Intel one. Technically the prediction isn't far off - it just needs sub-zero cooling
The fastest NetBurst processor I believe was 4GHz. There were a bunch of SKUs rated at 3.8

 

[R-T-B]

Keep an eye on ASML's delivery schedule. Chances are the retooling for at least one of TSMC's Gigafab's would be on schedule, but ASML's delivery of lithography systems would be the key factor - hence TSMC following Intel's lead in investing in ASML to ensure prompt tooling supply. TSMC's pipecleaner for 10nm seems to going OK , and 7nm should use the same tooling.

Thanks for that info. How you manage to always be on top of this stuff and still work a day job is beyond me.

 

[xfia]

Yeah, Intel made same predictions of NetBurst reaching clocks of 15GHz years in the future and then it turned out it was basically melting down at what was the highest clock, 3,2 GHz ?

Intel forgot about the terminal phase when they started throwing around 15ghz

 

[medi01]

I'll just keep my fingers crossed, for:
1) we'll never run into "Intel has HUGE fab process advantage" ever again
2) AMD Arctic Islands ends pathetic (market share) imbalance (products are fine) in GPU market
3) Zen does promised +40% IPC

Is that too much to hope for? =|

 

[R-T-B]

Is that too much to hope for? =|

Probably. But despair is worse...

 

[HumanSmoke]

Thanks for that info. How you manage to always be on top of this stuff and still work a day job is beyond me.

I can always find time to indulge in my hobbies!
I used to work in the industry (mainframes), and still have a few friends that still do. What I miss in reading, they are invariably very quick to enlighten me to.

 

[truth teller]

as a lot of you has already guessed, these kind of news are just wacky predictions to keep the investors happy. 5 years is such a long time span in this industry

 

[cdawall]

They couldn't even get 20nm out on time, yet they are going to make claims to have 5nm by 2020? GTFO of here with that nonsense TSMC, you single handedly crippled the GPU market for what 4 years?

 

[64K]

They couldn't even get 20nm out on time, yet they are going to make claims to have 5nm by 2020? GTFO of here with that nonsense TSMC, you single handedly crippled the GPU market for what 4 years?

Agreed. TSMC, just deliver 16nm GPUs by middle of this year without shortages please.

 

[Steevo]

Rd+RR anyone?

You could replace that slide with the two old Muppet men and have a better and more reliable press release.

 

[HumanSmoke]

Rd+RR anyone?

You could replace that slide with the two old Muppet men and have a better and more reliable press release.

That still makes it about 50 times more accurate than those put out by Globalfoundries

 

[BoyGenius]

So I got a new 5nm cpu in the mail and i sliced it in half while cutting the box open.. Thankfully the warranty covered the damage since the cpu is paper thin but the new one they sent me bent pins when I installed the cooler

At least they survived the mail .

 

[D.Crepit]

Am I the only one who is a little leery
of the service life of these sub 20nm parts?

We're pretty close to the point where any old
stray alpha/beta particle will cream a gate...