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The A16 Bionic Could Be the First Chip Built on The TSMC’s 3nm Process Node
TSMC debuted chips made using its 5nm process node. The first smartphones released with a 5nm chip were the Apple iPhone 12 series which features the A14 Bionic chipset. Apple also has this chip powering the iPad Air (2020). The 5nm A14 Bionic has a transistor density of 134 million transistors per square mm compared to 89.97 million transistors per square mm on the 7nm A13 Bionic. The transistor count for the A14 Bionic is 11.8 billion compared to 8.5 billion transistors for the A13 Bionic. Those additional transistors found in the A14 Bionic make it a more powerful performer and more energy efficient than the A13 Bionic.
Android phone manufacturers will have their own 5nm chips to use with the Snapdragon 888 or the Exynos 2100. Not only are both produced using the 5nm node, they both are produced by Samsung Foundry. The just announced Samsung Galaxy S21 series uses both chips depending on the region where the device is purchased. Meanwhile, DigitTimes reported today that TSMC will start risk production of its 3nm chips this year with volume production beginning during the second half of next year. During the foundry's quarterly earnings report announced on Thursday, TSMC CEO CC Wei said, "Our N3 technology development is on track with good progress. We are seeing a much higher level of customer engagement for both HPC and smartphone application at N3 as compared with N5 and N7 at a similar stage."
TSMC debuted chips made using its 5nm process node. The first smartphones released with a 5nm chip were the Apple iPhone 12 series which features the A14 Bionic chipset. Apple also has this chip powering the iPad Air (2020). The 5nm A14 Bionic has a transistor density of 134 million transistors per square mm compared to 89.97 million transistors per square mm on the 7nm A13 Bionic. The transistor count for the A14 Bionic is 11.8 billion compared to 8.5 billion transistors for the A13 Bionic. Those additional transistors found in the A14 Bionic make it a more powerful performer and more energy efficient than the A13 Bionic.
Android phone manufacturers will have their own 5nm chips to use with the Snapdragon 888 or the Exynos 2100. Not only are both produced using the 5nm node, they both are produced by Samsung Foundry. The just announced Samsung Galaxy S21 series uses both chips depending on the region where the device is purchased. Meanwhile, DigitTimes reported today that TSMC will start risk production of its 3nm chips this year with volume production beginning during the second half of next year. During the foundry's quarterly earnings report announced on Thursday, TSMC CEO CC Wei said, "Our N3 technology development is on track with good progress. We are seeing a much higher level of customer engagement for both HPC and smartphone application at N3 as compared with N5 and N7 at a similar stage."
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