TSMC Looking To Develop New Plants For 5nm And 3nm Chips As It Looks Beyond The IPhone 8’s 10nm Chips
TSMC is the sole manufacturer for the A10 chip found in the iPhone 7, and it looks like they’ll be back with the A11 chip in the iPhone 8, but the company isn’t stopping there. Nikkei Asian Review is now reporting that TSMC is planning to build a new plant to develop 5nm and 3nm chips to help win future business from Apple.
The A11 chip for the upcoming iPhone will already be using a 10nm chip which is a huge upgrade from the 16nm chip found in the iPhone 7. The A11 has already been finalized but TSMC won’t be in the position to deliver its first samples to Apple until early next year.
TSMC initially hoped that it would win two-thirds of Apple’s business, with Samsung picking up the rest, but it was later reported that TSMC would be the exclusive provider for the chip.
Contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, which controls a leading 55% share of the global market, said on Wednesday it plans to build a $500 billion New Taiwan dollar ($15.7 billion) facility in Taiwan that would churn out the world’s most advanced chips.
“We’re asking the government to help us find a plot that is large enough and has convenient access so we can build an advanced chip plant to manufacture 5-nanometer and 3nm chips,” TSMC spokesperson Elizabeth Sun told the Nikkei Asian Review.
Both Apple and Qualcomm — which is the main provider for Android phones — rely on TSMC to manufacturer its chips.