Apple Supplier TSMC to Produce 3nm Chips at Arizona Plant

Apple chip supplier TSMC has plans in place to mass produce next-generation 3-nanometer chips at its $12 billion Arizona facility, according to the Taiwanese company's founder.

3nm apple silicon feature
Speaking to reporters on Monday in Taipei, Morris Chang said the 3-nanometre plant would be located at the same Arizona site as the 5-nanometre plant.

"Three-nanometre, TSMC right now has a plan, but it has not been completely finalized," Chang, who has retired from TSMC but remains influential in the company, told Reuters. "It has almost been finalized - in the same Arizona site, phase two. Five-nanometre is phase one, 3-nanometre is phase two."

Apple is rumored to be moving its custom silicon to the 3nm process starting with the M2 Pro or M3 chip. Both Apple's M3 chip for Macs and A17 chip for iPhone 15 Pro models are expected to be manufactured based on TSMC's enhanced ‌3nm‌ process. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has said he expects the ‌M2‌ Pro to be used in updates next year to the 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌, as well as a high-end Mac mini.

The move to a more advanced process typically results in improved performance and power efficiency, enabling faster speeds and longer battery life on future Macs and iPhones. According to TSMC, ‌3nm‌ technology, also known as N3, will offer up to 70% logic density gain, up to 15% speed improvement at the same power, and up to 30% power reduction at the same speed when compared to its predecessor. The company says it is targeting volume production in the second half of this year.

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Top Rated Comments

1557750 Avatar
28 months ago
This is excellent.

I heard they were in talks with Frito-Lay to help with production of chips. But Apple wasn’t happy with the amount of air used in their packaging.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tridley68 Avatar
28 months ago
Its about time they start bringing manufacturing back to the US.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
goobot Avatar
28 months ago
Good news
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GuruZac Avatar
28 months ago
Always good to diversify manufacturing, and as an American, it’s nice to see some of it end up back here.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
freedomlinux Avatar
28 months ago

Picking Arizona essentially transfer a vulnerable target into an equally vulnerable but slightly better protected place. A couple ICBM can make short work of those plants if all of them are in arizona. At least put them in different states.
If we are considering a situation where Arizona experiences "a couple ICBM", I think there will be bigger priorities than 3nm chip production.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Reason077 Avatar
28 months ago

Is it just me, or is the second half of ”this year” just about over?
Just you. I've checked my wall calendar and noticed that it's still only April.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)