TECH

TSMC to start mass production of 2nm semiconductors before 2025

While Intel expects a 2nm (20A) process as early as summer 2024, reports from TSMC and Samsung don't even indicate that these companies could start mass production before 2025. Remember the Intel 7 process was originally called 10nm, Intel 4 was originally 7nm, Intel 3 was originally 7nm+ and Intel 20A is therefore a technology that was originally supposed to enter the market after the 5nm designation. However, that doesn't change anything in its parameters, which can be at least on par with TSMC and Samsung's 2nm processes in terms of process density.

TSMC has confirmed that it is planning series production on the 2nm process for Apple in 2025. As Apple is traditionally the first customer for wafers built with the latest technologies, this means that 2nm production is virtually certain to of TSMC as such will begin in 2025.

The same year has also been published by Samsung, whose first version of the 2nm process (SF2) is also drawn in the column corresponding to 2025. This should also be the last variant of the 4nm production (4LPA or 4nm Low-Power Advanced, or SF4A) and also the latest 3nm production version (3GAP+ or SF3P). In 2026, Samsung is preparing a better version of the 2nm process and for 2027 it is preparing a 1.4nm (SF1.4) process.

What Samsung's 1.4nm process will face cannot yet be estimated, as Intel's roadmap ends with a 1.8nm (18A) process planned for summer 2025. Like the latest generations of Samsung's processes are not exactly ideal, it cannot be ruled out that it will not be better than the Intel 18A process. Intel once designed a 1.4nm process (according to the original nomenclature!) for 2029, but those plans can be considered a thing of the past (at least as far as process renaming goes, that's for sure).

mundophone