TSMC’s $12 billion chip factory now under construction in Arizona will start producing 4-nanometer chips as soon as it opens in 2024 at the insistence of Apple and other companies like AMD and Nvidia, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
An anticipated schedule
The factory was originally slated to start producing 5-nanometer chips, but with Apple and other companies increasingly looking to source components from the U.S., TSMC updated its schedule so the facility could provide sharper chips.
TSMC had previously said it would manufacture 20,000 wafers per month at its US factory, but production could be scaled up from initial plans. Apple will use about a third of the production when it launches.Apple and other big tech companies rely on TSMC for their chipmaking needs, and this change means they’ll be able to get more processors from the United States. Apple Chairman and CEO Tim Cook has previously told employees that his company plans to source chips from the Arizona factory.
The new timeline is expected to be announced in Phoenix next Tuesday, with President Joe Biden, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Apple CEO Tim Cook, along with AMD CEO Lisa Su and Jensen Huang, in attendance. founder and CEO of Nvidia.
A second phase already set
In addition to the production facility for 4-nanometer processors, TSMC would officially announce plans for a second phase involving an adjacent facility that will produce even more advanced 3-nanometer chips, a development that was revealed last week. by TSMC founder Morris Chang.
Apple’s latest chips are manufactured using an advanced 5-nanometer process (which Apple likens to a 4-nm process on the A16 chip), and moving to more advanced processes should result in significant improvements in performance and performance. energy efficiency. Apple is rumored to be using 4nm and 3nm processes for some of its upcoming chips, the M3 and A17 series respectively, then M4 and A18, for Macs, iPads, iPhones and other products.