Apple’s first 3-nanometer chips, the A17 Pro and M3, aren’t even three months old, but the technology is still evolving and Apple is already planning the next manufacturing process. The Financial Times reports (subscription required) that the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is developing a 2nm chip process that has been demonstrated to Apple and other customers.
TSMC, which makes Apple’s chips, predicts that mass production of 2nm chips could be ready by 2025, and the company told the Financial Times that the process “will be the fastest growing semiconductor technology industry advancement in terms of density and energy efficiency when implemented. introduced. »
The evolution of the manufacturing process increases the density of transistors in the chip and allows for more chip cores, more cache and other features. For example, Apple’s Mac M1 chip and iPhone A14 Bionic chip were manufactured using the 5nm process. When Apple moved to the 3nm process for the M3 and A17, Apple was able to fit more transistors on the silicon, which increased the performance of the chips, increased the number of cores, and enabled other features. The newer process also improves energy efficiency.
If TSMC and Apple manage to hit the 2025 target, that could mean the iPhone 17 Pro could sport an A19 Pro chip (if Apple sticks to the current naming convention) made with a new 2nm process . Apple typically releases new chip models in its iPhone, so 2nm M-series Mac chips could follow in late 2025 or early 2026.
But technology is always evolving, and so is TSMC. Analyst Dylan Patel posted on X that TSMC already has a 1.4nm process in development. A TSMC representative did not provide a timeline for when 1.4nm will be ready for mass production, but it will likely be many years away.
Interestingly, TSMC refers to the 1.4nm process as “A14,” which can be confusing considering how Apple names its iPhone chips. TSMC has already referred to its upcoming 5nm, 3nm and 2nm processes as N5, N3 and N2 – the “N” stands for nanometer. As José Fandos on X emphasizes, a angstrom is a unit of measurement equal to 0.1 nanometer. So instead of calling it N1.4, TSMC decided to use the name “A14”, where the “A” stands for angstrom. But since it’s very early, it’s likely that the nomenclature will change between now and release.
