TSMC has internally decided to abandon the 3nm process technology, and the next generation of chips can still be upgraded normally! 3 nanometers is an important hurdle. From field effect transistors to full-gate field effect transistors, and then the quantum effects increase, the requirements for underlying scientific issues are higher. It is a good thing for China that Moore's Law can expire, so that it will be easier to catch up.
TSMC’s internal decision to abandon the 3nm process technology is the only customer with high process technology requirements. Apple cannot hold on.
In the past, TSMC’s most advanced processes were contracted by Huawei and Apple. The two companies were responsible for spending money to improve the yield rate of the foundry (TSMC), and they also had priority in enjoying the first batch of supplies. Qualcomm's yield rate has gone up later, so it's a bargain.
Now Huawei’s 5nm Kirin 9000 chip has become its swan song.
Only Apple’s A series monopolizes TSMC’s most advanced 5nm & 5nm plus & 4nm process technology. If you want to go up to 3nm, you can only bear the cost alone, and no Huawei can come out to spread the cost. It’s obvious that Apple is unsustainable. Anyway, the high-end market is already exclusive to iPhones. It’s a thankless task, and it might as well not be a wedding dress for others.
Qualcomm has long since chosen to lie down. Snapdragon 888 has already switched to Samsung and became a new generation of Fire Dragon. After that, it handed over 8 gen 1 to Samsung for OEM, and successively created Fire Dragon. Seeing that MediaTek Dimensity is about to However, Qualcomm can only choose TSMC's 4nm process at most. After all, it chose Samsung's Qualcomm regardless of the fire dragon because Samsung's foundry cost is lower. It is obviously impossible for Qualcomm to step forward and jointly undertake the improvement of the yield rate of TSMC's advanced process technology.
I wonder if Apple at this time misses the Huawei and Kirin chips of those years.
In addition, the status of 3nm is now like that of 5G. There is not much difference between the use experience of 5G and 4G. 3nm is not fully mature in terms of use scenarios and technology. It will become a trend in the future, but It may take a while to transition.