With the rapid development of the semiconductor industry, many processors, including the Apple A11, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, Samsung Exynos 8895, and Huawei Kirin 970, are all manufactured using a 10nm process.
It is rumored that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor will be launched at the end of this year and will still be built on a 10 nm process. However, the latest news suggests that the processor is expected to be built on the 7nm manufacturing process and will be ready in the second half of next year.
Today, an industry insider revealed on Weibo that TSMC’s three ASML EUV equipment are estimated to complete installations in the first quarter of 2018. According to the insider, the 7nm process will be officially released into production at the end of the second quarter of next year, and Apple’s A12 processor will be the first to adopt this process.
He also stated that Qualcomm will apply the 7nm manufacturing process to its flagship processors, but did not disclose the specific model. Regarding the production plan for the 7nm process, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor is expected to be manufactured using this process.
In addition to the 7nm process, Samsung has just announced that its 8nm LPP process has been certified and is about to enter mass production. Compared to the 10nm process, the 8nm LPP process can reduce core area by 10% while improving energy efficiency by 10%.