TECH

ChinaTimes leaks list of upcoming 5 nm chips produced at TSMC throughout 2022

The list confirms some 5 nm lineups that were previously rumored to launch in the next few years including the AMD Zen 4 CPUs plus the RDNA3 GPUs, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 875 mobile SOC and Nvidia’s Hopper-based GPUs, yet it also mentions that Intel may start a collaboration with TSMC by next year.
TSMC is set to begin chip production on the 5 nm nodes this quarter and the first consumer products powered by 5 nm tech should arrive in the second half of 2020. Sources close to ChinaTImes have managed to obtain a more detailed roadmap for the 5 nm products that are expected to launch throughout 2021 and 2022, and it looks like Intel could become an important client for TSMC next year. The ChinaTimes report points out that TSCM should reach peak 5 nm capacity by 2022 with an estimated 1 million wafers produced that year. The 2020 roadmap is clear and only includes two product lineups: Apple’s A14 / A14X Bionic mobile SoCs along with the HiSilicon Kirin 1000 mobile SoCs and NPUs which should be launching in Q3. The 2021 and 2022 roadmaps are merged, so launch times are not clear.

Product lineups like the AMD Zen 4 CPUs plus the RDNA3 GPUs, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 875 mobile SOC and Nvidia’s Hopper-based GPUs have already been rumored to launch in this time frame. Other lineups we have not really heard anything of before include:

-Qualcomm’s X60 5G modems
-MediaTek’s Dimensity 2000 mobile SoCs with integrated 5G modems
-Apple A15 Bionic mobile SoCs
-Huawei’s HiSilicon Kirin 1100 SoCs and server processors
-Intel’s Xe GPUs

Apparently, Intel will finally begin a more extended collaboration with TSMC, but this does not involve its CPU line. We are not sure if Intel will completely skip the 7 nm node for the upcoming Xe DG2 GPUs, but the jump to 5 nm in 1-2 years may prove that the company is willing to go head to head with AMD and Nvidia and possibly release competitive high-end gaming GPUs.

by Bogdan Solca