TSMC explains what we could see from Apple’s A14 Bionic chipset this year
TSMC also noted that its next 5nm node, which it calls N5P, will undergo volume manufacturing sometime next year. Compared to the 5nm process being used this year, N5P is expected to deliver up as much as a 10% hike in energy-efficiency or a 5% improvement in performance.
The foundry also indicated that it could start volume manufacturing of 3nm chips during the second half of 2022. Compared to the 5nm chips that TSMC is pushing out this year, power savings of as much as 30% or performance hikes of up to 15% might be experienced.
Eventually, though, we will come to the end of the road for Moore’s Law. This is the observation made in the 1960s and revised in the 70s by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore. More noted that the transistor density on chips doubles every other year. While this hasn’t been perfectly adhered to recently, new and innovative technologies are going to be needed to improve the performance and energy consumption of smartphones in the future.
The Apple iPhone 12 series could be the first smartphones to be powered by a 5nm chip. Huawei’s Mate 40 series could be next using a 5nm Kirin chip designed by Huawei’s HiSilicon unit. Next year though, things might be difficult for Huawei. This year, the U.S. changed an export rule and now any foundry that uses U.S. based technology to produce chips must obtain a license from the U.S. government before shipping chips to Huawei. Besides needing the component for its smartphones, the company uses them for its networking equipment including 5G base stations.