At the 2020 World Semiconductor Conference and Nanjing International Semiconductor Expo held on August 26, Luo Zhenqiu, General Manager of TSMC (Nanjing) Co., Ltd., announced that more than 140 products using 7nm chips have already entered mass production, and this number is expected to exceed 200 by the end of this year. At the same time, 5nm technology has entered mass production, and its yield rate is significantly better than the 7nm process three years ago. It is expected that 4nm chips will officially enter mass production next year.
In addition, he revealed that a 3nm chip product will be launched next year. In 2022, 3nm chips had already entered mass production. TSMC’s 3nm chips can improve performance by 10%-15% while reducing power consumption by 25%-30%.
Luo Zhenqiu stated that TSMC had invested more than $3 billion in research and development this year, with all research funds dedicated to the chip sector. Currently, TSMC’s 7nm chips have entered their third year of mass production, and so far, more than 140 7nm chip products have been mass-produced, with the number expected to exceed 200 by the end of this year.
In addition to 7nm chips, TSMC is also working on the N7+ process, which is a strong miniaturization of 7nm and 6nm chips. TSMC treats 6nm and 7nm as the same process node. The output of this node is quite large. So far, TSMC has shipped more than 1 billion chips worldwide. Application areas include CPU, GPU, communications, and AI.
According to Luo Zhenqiu, TSMC’s 5nm chips have entered mass production. Based on the yield rate in production, the yield rate of 5nm chips is much better than that of 7nm chips three years ago.
4nm chips are the next-generation process node, and we will continue to optimize the area and power performance of the 5nm process. By adopting different design approaches, we can not only reduce chip size but also achieve greater competitiveness in power consumption and cost. It is expected that 4nm chips will be officially mass-produced next year.
TSMC is also developing 3nm chips. In fact, TSMC will also develop 2nm and 1nm chips in the future. TSMC can further improve performance by 10%-15% on 3nm chips and reduce power consumption by 25%-30%. We should be able to see 3nm next year and achieve mass production in 2022.