TSMC today unveiled its newest semiconductor process, advanced packaging, and 3D IC technologies for powering the next generation of AI innovations with silicon leadership at the Company's 2024 North America Technology Symposium. TSMC debuted the TSMC A16 technology, featuring leading nanosheet transistors with innovative backside power rail solution for production in 2026, bringing greatly improved logic density and performance. TSMC also introduced its System-on-Wafer (TSMC-SoW) technology, an innovative solution to bring revolutionary performance to the wafer level in addressing the future AI requirements for hyperscaler datacenters.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of TSMC's North America Technology Symposium, and more than 2,000 attended the event, growing from less than 100 attendees 30 years ago. The North America Technology Symposium in Santa Clara, California kicks off TSMC Technology Symposiums around the world in the coming months. The symposium also features an "Innovation Zone," designed to highlight the technology achievements of our emerging start-up customers.

TSMC's 2 nm-class foundry node, dubbed N2, will enter mass production only in 2025, a report by the Financial Times says. The premier Taiwan-based foundry has been reportedly showcasing TSMC N2 to its biggest customer for advanced nodes, Apple. The node will likely power Apple's in-house silicon that drives the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max devices that are slated for 2025. This implies that the current 3 nm class nodes from TSMC will continue to power Apple silicon into 2024 and its iPhone 16 Pro/Pro Max.

The current Apple A17 Pro and M3 chips powering the iPhone 15 Pro/Max and the H2-2023 Macs are based on TSMC's N3 node, with a 183 MTr/mm² transistor density. TSMC has four other 3 nm-class nodes, with the N3E node that just entered mass production to offer a jump to 215.6 MTr/mm², and its 2024 successor, the N3P, pushing transistor densities further up to 224 MTr/mm². TSMC's first 2 nm-class node, the N2, offers a jump to around 259 MTr/mm², which makes the N3P a nice halfway point for Apple between the N3 and N2, for its 2024 silicon.

According to Korean business news publication ChosunBiz, both Samsung and TSMC are struggling with their 3 nm node yields. The two companies have different approaches to their 3 nm nodes, with Samsung using GAA FET (Gate All Around), whereas TSMC is continuing with its FinFET technology. That said, TSMC has at least five known 3 nm nodes, of which two should be in production by now, assuming N3E has proved to be reliable enough to kick off. Samsung on the other hand has three known 3 nm nodes, with only one in production so far, called 3GAE.

ChosunBiz reports that neither company is getting the kind of yields that you'd expect from a node that should have been in volume production for around a year by now, with Samsung apparently being somewhat better than TSMC. At 60 and 50 percent respectively, neither Samsung nor TSMC are anywhere near decent yields. Anything below 70 percent is considered very poor and even the 60 percent claim in Samsungs case, is apparently limited to some kind of Chinese mining ASIC and doesn't include the SRAM you find in most modern processors. ChosunBiz also mentions a source familiar with Samsung's foundry business who mentions a yield closer to 50 percent for the company. The same source also mentions that Samsung needs to reach at least 70 percent yield to be able to attract major customers to its 3 nm node.

Synopsys, Inc. today announced it is extending its collaboration with TSMC to advance multi-die system designs with a comprehensive solution supporting the latest 3Dblox 2.0 standard and TSMC's 3DFabric technologies. The Synopsys Multi-Die System solution includes 3DIC Compiler, a unified exploration-to-signoff platform that delivers the highest levels of design efficiency for capacity and performance. In addition, Synopsys has achieved first-pass silicon success of its Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe) IP on TSMC's leading N3E process for seamless die-to-die connectivity.

"TSMC has been working closely with Synopsys to deliver differentiated solutions that address designers' most complex challenges from early architecture to manufacturing," said Dan Kochpatcharin, head of the Design Infrastructure Management Division at TSMC. "Our long history of collaboration with Synopsys benefits our mutual customers with optimized solutions for performance and power efficiency to help them address multi-die system design requirements for high-performance computing, data center, and automotive applications."

When TSMC introduced its N3 lineup of nodes, the company only talked about the logic scaling of the two new semiconductor manufacturing steps. However, it turns out that there was a reason for it, as WikiChip confirms that the SRAM bit cells of N3 nodes are almost identical to the SRAM bit cells of N5 nodes. At TSMC 2023 Technology Symposium, TSMC presented additional details about its N3 node lineup, including logic and SRAM density. For starters, the N3 node is TSMC's "3 nm" node family that has two products: a Base N3 node (N3B) and an Enhanced N3 node (N3E). The base N3B uses a new (for TSMC) self-aligned contact (SAC) scheme that Intel introduced back in 2011 with a 22 nm node, which improves the node's yield.

Regardless of N3's logic density improvements compared to the "last-generation" N5, the SRAM density is almost identical. Initially, TSMC claimed N3B SRAM density was 1.2x over the N5 process. However, recent information shows that the actual SRAM density is merely a 5% difference. With SRAM taking a large portion of the transistor and area budget of a processor, N3B's soaring manufacturing costs are harder to justify when there is almost no area improvement. For some time, SRAM scaling wasn't following logic scaling; however, the two have now completely decoupled.

Mobile devices touch every aspect of our digital lives. In the palm of your hand is the ability to both create and consume increasingly immersive, AI-accelerated experiences that continue to drive the need for more compute. Arm is at the heart of many of these, bringing unlimited delight, productivity and success to more people than ever. Every year we build foundational platforms designed to meet these increasing compute demands, with a relentless focus on high performance and efficiency. Working closely with our broader ecosystem, we're delivering the performance, efficiency and intelligence needed on every generation of consumer device to expand our digital lifestyles.

Today we are announcing Arm Total Compute Solutions 2023 (TCS23), which will be the platform for mobile computing, offering our best ever premium solution for smartphones. TCS23 delivers a complete package of the latest IP designed and optimized for specific workloads to work seamlessly together as a complete system. This includes a new world-class Arm Immortalis GPU based on our brand-new 5th Generation GPU architecture for ultimate visual experiences, a new cluster of Armv9 CPUs that continue our performance leadership for next-gen artificial intelligence (AI), and new enhancements to deliver more accessible software for the millions of Arm developers.

Ansys and TSMC continue their long-standing technology collaboration to announce the certification of Ansys' power integrity software for TSMC's N2 process technology. The TSMC N2 process, which adopts nanosheet transistor structure, represents a major advancement in semiconductor technology with significant speed and power advantages for high performance computing (HPC), mobile chips, and 3D-IC chiplets. Both Ansys RedHawk-SC and Ansys Totem are certified for power integrity signoff on N2, including the effects of self-heat on long-term reliability of wires and transistors. This latest collaboration builds on the recent certification of the Ansys platform for TSMC's N4 and N3E FinFLEX processes.

"TSMC works closely with our Open Innovation Platform (OIP) ecosystem partners to help our mutual customers achieve the best design results with the full stack of design solutions on TSMC's most advanced N2 process," said Dan Kochpatcharin, head of the Design Infrastructure Management Division at TSMC. "Our latest collaboration with Ansys RedHawk-SC and Totem analysis tools allows our customers to benefit from the significant power and performance improvements of our N2 technology while ensuring predictively accurate power and thermal signoff for the long-term reliability of their designs."

TSMC today showcased its latest technology developments at its 2023 North America Technology Symposium, including progress in 2 nm technology and new members of its industry-leading 3 nm technology family, offering a range of processes tuned to meet diverse customer demands. These include N3P, an enhanced 3 nm process for better power, performance and density, N3X, a process tailored for high performance computing (HPC) applications, and N3AE, enabling early start of automotive applications on the most advanced silicon technology.

With more than 1,600 customers and partners registered to attend, the North America Technology Symposium in Santa Clara, California is the first of the TSMC's Technology Symposiums around the world in the coming months. The North America symposium also features an Innovation Zone spotlighting the exciting technologies of 18 emerging start-up customers.

Accelerating the integration of heterogeneous dies to enable the next level of system scalability and functionality, Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS) has strengthened its collaboration with TSMC and Ansys for multi-die system design and manufacturing. Synopsys provides the industry's most comprehensive EDA and IP solutions for multi-die systems on TSMC's advanced 7 nm, 5 nm and 3 nm process technologies with support for TSMC 3DFabric technologies and 3Dblox standard. The integration of Synopsys implementation and signoff solutions and Ansys multi-physics analysis technology on TSMC processes allows designers to tackle the biggest challenges of multi-die systems, from early exploration to architecture design with signoff power, signal and thermal integrity analysis.

"Multi-die systems provide a way forward to achieve reduced power and area and higher performance, opening the door to a new era of innovation at the system-level," said Dan Kochpatcharin, head of Design Infrastructure Management Division at TSMC. "Our long-standing collaboration with Open Innovation Platform (OIP) ecosystem partners like Synopsys and Ansys gives mutual customers a faster path to multi-die system success through a full spectrum of best-in-class EDA and IP solutions optimized for our most advanced technologies."

A technology tipster has been dropping multiple tidbits this week about Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile chipset - this follows a leak (from a different source, going back to mid-April) about the next generation Adreno 750 GPU getting tuned up for a battle against Apple's Bionic A17 in terms of graphics benchmarks. The latest leak points to the GPU being clocked at 900 MHz, rather than the rumored higher figure of 1.0 GHz speed (garnered from tests at Qualcomm's labs). The focus has now turned to the next generation flagship Snapdragon's CPU aspect, with information emerging about core clock speeds and multiple cluster configurations.

Revegnus suggests that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (SD8G3) chipset will be packing a large primary core in the shape of Arm's Cortex-X4 CPU with a reported maximum clock speed of 3.40 GHz. Leaks from the past have posited that the SD8G3 would feature a fairly standard 1x Large + 5x Big + 2x Small CPU core layout (with clocks predicted to be: large Cortex X4 at 3.2 GHz, big Cortex-A720 at 3.0 GHz, and small Cortex-A520 at 2.0 GHz). An insider source has provided Revegnus with additional information about two different CPU core configurations - 1+5+2 and 2+4+2 - it is theorized that smartphone manufacturers will be offered the latter layout as an exclusive option for special edition flagship phones. The more powerful 2+4+2 variant is said to sacrifice a big core (A720) in favor of a dual Cortex X4 headliner, although the resultant thermal output of twin large cores could prove to be problematic.

Based on multiple reports out of Taiwan, TSMC is seeing increased utilisation of its 3 nm node and its production line is now at close to 50 percent utilisation. The main customer here is without a doubt Apple and TSMC is churning out some 50-55,000 wafers a month on its 3 nm node. TSMC is also getting ready to start production on its N3E node later this year, which will see some customers move to the node.

However, it's not all good news, as TSMC is seeing a decline in utilisation on its 5/4 and 7/6 nm nodes as demand has dropped significantly here, with different news outlets reporting different figures. Some are suggesting the 7/6 nm nodes might have dropped as low as to 50 percent utilisation, others mention 70 percent. The 5/4 nm nodes aren't anywhere nearly as badly affected and remain at around 80 percent utilisation. The good news for TSMC is that this is expected to be a temporary slump in demand and most of its leading edge nodes should be back at somewhere around a 90 percent utilisation rate by the second half of the year. However, this depends on what the demand for its partners' products will look like going forward, as many of TSMC's customers are seeing lower demand for their products in turn.

TSMC today held a 3 nanometer (3 nm) Volume Production and Capacity Expansion Ceremony at its Fab 18 new construction site in the Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP), bringing together suppliers, construction partners, central and local government, the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association, and members of academia to witness an important milestone in the Company's advanced manufacturing.

TSMC has laid a strong foundation for 3 nm technology and capacity expansion, with Fab 18 located in the STSP serving as the Company's GIGAFAB facility producing 5 nm and 3 nm process technology. Today, TSMC announced that 3 nm technology has successfully entered volume production with good yields, and held a topping ceremony for its Fab 18 Phase 8 facility. TSMC estimates that 3 nm technology will create end products with a market value of US$1.5 trillion within five years of volume production.

According to news out of Taiwan, TSMC will hold a ceremony to mark the official mass production start of its 3 nm node on the 29th of December. This is said to help "shatter doubts about de-Taiwanization" or in simpler terms, that Taiwan will lose its golden goose as TSMC invests abroad. The 3 nm fab—known as fab 18—is based in southern Taiwan's Tainan and the ceremony also marks the start of an expansion of TSMC's most advanced fab. TSMC is said to be kicking off its N3E node production sometime in the second half of 2023, followed by its N3P node in 2024, all of which should take place at fab 18, which also produces 5 nm wafers.

In related news, according to Reuters, a Japanese lawmaker from the ruling party has said that TSMC is considering a second plant in Japan, in addition to its current joint venture that is already under construction. TSMC's response to Reuters was that the company isn't ruling out Japan for future fabs, but that the company doesn't have any current plans. At the same time, TSMC is said to be sending executives to Dresden, Germany in early 2023, for a second round of talks about building a fab to help support the European auto industry, although this would be a 28/22 nm fab, which is far from cutting edge these days, although a lot more advanced than most fabs making chips for the auto industry.

Although Morris Chang is no longer in charge of the day to day business at TSMC, the founder of the company is still getting his hands dirty. Chang attended the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting last week, as part of Taiwan's delegation and was questioned by the media about TSMC's future plans. The specific question was about TSMC's Arizona fab, which will initially produce chips using a 5 nm node. The US$12 billion plant is scheduled to kick off production at some point in 2024, by which time the 5 nm node should be a commonly used node rather than close to cutting edge.

When questioned about the future of the Arizona fab, Morris Chang answered that it will be moving to a 3 nm node, which is currently TSMC's most cutting edge node, that has gone into volume production earlier this year with th N3 node, which is set to be followed by the N3E node. According to Chang, there's interest by several countries to have TSMC set up fabs there, but apparently this is not something TSMC is considering at the moment. One potential reason for this would be a suitable labour force, something that has already proven to be tough for the Arizona fab.

Alphawave IP (LSE: AWE), a global leader in high-speed connectivity for the world's technology infrastructure, today announced the successful tapeout of its ZeusCORE100 1-112 Gbps NRZ/PAM4 Serialiser-Deserialiser ("SerDes"), Alphawave's first testchip on TSMC's most advanced N3E process. Alphawave IP will be exhibiting this new product alongside its complete portfolio of high-performance IP, chiplet, and custom silicon solutions at the TSMC OIP Forum on October 26 in Santa Clara, CA as the Platinum sponsor.

ZeusCORE100 is Alphawave's most advanced multi-standard-SerDes, supporting extra-long channels over 45dB and the most requested standards such as 800G Ethernet, OIF 112G-CEI, PCIe GEN6, and CXL 3.0. Attendees will be able to visit the Alphawave booth and meet the company's technology experts including members of the recently acquired OpenFive team. OpenFive is a longstanding partner of TSMC through the OIP Value Chain Aggregator (VCA) program. OpenFive is one of a select few companies with an idea-to-silicon methodology in TSMC's latest technologies, and advanced packaging capabilities, enabling access to the most advanced foundry solution available with the best Power-Performance-Area (PPA). With Alphawave's industry-leading IP portfolio and the addition of OpenFive's capabilities, designers can create systems on a chip (SoCs) that pack more compute power into smaller form factors for networking, AI, storage, and high-performance computing (HPC) applications.

Another quarter, another record breaking earnings report by TSMC, but it seems like the company has released that things are set to slow down sooner than initially expected and the company is hitting the brakes on some of its expansion projects. The company saw a 79.7 percent increase in profits compared to last year, with a profit of US$8.8 billion and a revenue of somewhere between US$19.9 to US$ 20.7 billion for the third quarter, which is a 47.9 percent bump compared to last year. TSMC's 5 nm nodes were the source for 28 percent of the revenues, followed by 26 percent for 7 nm nodes, 12 percent for 16 nm and 10 percent for 28 nm, with remaining nodes at 40 nm and larger making up for the remainder of the revenue. By platform, smartphone chips made up 41 percent, followed by High Performance Computing at 39 percent, IoT at 10 percent and automotive at five percent.

TSMC said it will cut back its CAPEX budget by around US$4 billion, to US$36 billion, compared to the earlier stated US$40 billion budget the company had set aside for expanding its fabs. Part of the reason for this is that TSMC is already seeing weaker demand for products manufactured using its N7 and N6 nodes, as the N7 node was meant to be a key part of the new fab in Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan. TSMC is expecting to start production on its first N3 node later this quarter and is expecting the capacity to be fully utilised for all of 2023. Supply is said to be exceeding demand, which TSMC said is partially to blame on tooling delivery issues. TSMC is expecting next year's revenue for its N3 node to be higher than its N5 node in 2020, although the revenue is said to be in the single digit percentage range. The N3E node is said to start production sometime in the second half of next year, or about a quarter earlier than expected. The N2 node isn't due to start production until 2025, but TSMC is already having very high customer engagement, so it doesn't look like TSMC is likely to suffer from a lack of business in the foreseeable future, as long as the company keeps delivering new nodes as planned.

Based on media reports out of Taiwan, TSMC seems to have plenty of customers lined up for its 3 nm node, with Apple being the first customer out the gates when production starts sometime next month. However, TSMC is only expected to start the production with a mere 1,000 wafer starts a month, which seems like a very low figure, especially as this is said to remain unchanged through all of Q4. On the plus side, yields are expected to be better than the initial 5 nm node yields. Full-on mass production for the 3 nm node isn't expected to happen until the second half of 2023 and TSMC will also kick off its N3E node sometime in 2023.

Apart from Apple, major customers for the 3 nm node include AMD, Broadcom, Intel, MediaTek, NVIDIA and Qualcomm. Contrary to earlier reports by TrendForce, it appears that TSMC will continue its rollout of the 3 nm node as previously planned. Apple is expected to produce the A17 smartphone and tablet SoC, as well as advanced versions of the M2, as well as the M3 laptop and desktop processors on the 3 nm node. Intel is still said to be producing its graphics chiplets with TSMC, with the potential for GPU and FPGA products in the future. There's no word on what the other customers are planning to produce on the 3 nm node, but MediaTek and Qualcomm are obviously looking at using the node for future smartphone and tablet SoCs, with AMD and NVIDIA most likely aiming for upcoming GPUs and Broadcom for some kind of HPC related hardware.

TSMC today showcased the newest innovations in its advanced logic, specialty, and 3D IC technologies at the Company's 2022 North America Technology Symposium, with the next-generation leading-edge N2 process powered by nanosheet transistors and the unique FINFLEX technology for the N3 and N3E processes making their debut.

Resuming as an in-person event after being held online in the past two years, the North America symposium in Santa Clara, California, kicks off a series of Technology Symposiums around the world in the coming months. The Symposiums also feature an Innovation Zone that spotlights the achievements of TSMC's emerging start-up customers.