Apple moves like a fish in water with all things semiconductor and now out of Intel’s yoke with its A14 Bionics and its latest M1 seems to have no limits when it comes to design. But those in Cupertino know they have to push harder than the rest because they have the downside of performance and can only level things out if they get to the best node before everyone else, so they would have already made a deal. with TSMC.
Future Outlook on Apple: TSMC’s 3nm by 2022 with ARM
Arriving earlier can mean a very relevant benefit if you are accompanied by good architecture and a good product. The second is questionable lately as we have seen, but the first is perhaps the best after bitten apple software.
And it is that the SoC M1 has shaken up the market and that Apple has also moved the token ahead of everyone else ensuring no less than 80% of TSMC’s production for its 5nm node, which leaves AMD and the competition with one more how tight 20% of total of chips for CPU and GPU, so it is possible that only certain models of the company arrive in said node, or that the units are limited as is currently happening.
But if that wasn’t enough, by 2022, possibly the end of that year, TSMC would have entered into a fully undisclosed deal with Apple to secure orders for its new, more advanced 3nm node. So the question is, what percentage have you booked this time?
300 million tokens to avoid a deficit
TSMC is so confident in its lithographic process that, according to UDN, the company must sell a minimum of 300 million tokens to make a profit after investing in its 3 nm. We currently know that the Taiwanese are following their roadmap and that they are now on the 600,000 tokens per year, which is equivalent to approximately 50,000 per monthbecause they are in production, but not in mass.
Mass production, as they say, will take place by the end of 2022, or sooner if they manage to speed up the process even further, but first they have to make the 5nm profitable, so no rush is expected of TSMC in this regard and it fulfills its roadmap.
The problem is that there is no confirmation on the percentage or the number of orders between Apple and TSMC, but we know that it will be its first business partner and part of the sales will go to Cook’s, making a profit from the second zero. the enormous investment which led to the development of this node, the last one with FinFET as transistor technology and already 100% EUV.
Can no one compete with TSMC? Well, the cat isn’t that fierce when you stand in front of it. Intel will arrive with its 7nm + with almost the same density per square millimeter and Samsung, according to the latest unconfirmed rumors, will go from 5nm to its 3nm with EUV after guaranteeing ASML more scanners per year.
