No one ever said that building a new factory to produce chips using a 2nm process node is cheap. As the process node number gets smaller, the larger the number of transistors that can fit inside a chip. This is very important because the higher the transistor count on a chip, the more powerful and energy-efficient that chip is.
Apple’s A15 Bionic chipset is equipped with 15 billion transistors.
For example, 2014’s Apple A8 chipset, which debuted on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, was produced by TSMC using its 20nm process node. That SoC contained 2 billion transistors. Compare that with the currently used A15 Bionic chip employed on the iPhone 13 line. That chip is produced by TSMC using its second-generation 5nm process node and each chip is equipped with 15 billion transistors.
The Apple A15 Bionic is produced by TSMC using its 5nm process node
UDN expects TSMC to submit a proposal to Taiwan’s Science and Technology Administration seeking to acquire additional land in Taichung. Besides discussing its 2nm plans, TSMC recently shared a video about the $12 billion U.S. fab it is building in Arizona. This facility was the subject of a video on the business networking app LinkedIn which showed the factory for the first time in two years and TSMC repeated its plan to start production in Arizona within the next two years.
This is why TSMC is lagging behind Intel when it comes to signing employees for their Arizona fabs
U.S. employees working for TSMC before the factory opens are complaining about long working hours and the “excessive” number of meetings that are called. Intel, of course, will run its Arizona facility in the typical fashion for an American company with traditional benefits. It remains to be seen how much home-field advantage Intel will enjoy in Arizona over TSMC.
