From 2028: TSMC hopes to produce 2nm SoCs in the US sooner
The Taiwanese chip manufacturer is known to be building in Arizona, but the latest chips are still being produced at home. Could this now accelerate?
TSMC factory in Arizona: Everything goes faster when enough money comes in.
(Image: TSMC)
TSMC could produce modern 2 nm SoCs in the USA faster than previously thought. This is according to documents submitted by the company to the US Department of Commerce. Until now, the fabs in Arizona, which were built with billions in subsidies as part of the so-called CHIPS Act, were only supposed to produce 3 nm processors from 2028.
A few years faster
This would correspond to the state of the art in 2024, a good four years behind the factories in TSMC's home country of Taiwan. This annoys both US politicians and major customers such as Apple, who would like to buy more Apple Silicon "Made in the USA". The new plan now talks about setting up a first factory for 4 nm chips in the first half of 2025 and a second with 2 nm chips by the beginning of 2028.
Videos by heise
However, this does not change the fundamental fact that the most modern SoCs from TSMC will continue to come from Taiwan. The responsible minister, Wu Cheng-Wen, stated that the fear of the domestic industry being undermined was wrong. The outsourcing of a node will only take place after the start of mass production in Taiwan, while the next node is already being researched and worked on. This is to ensure that the location remains of central importance. The USA, on the other hand, has an interest in bringing more and more central components to its own country – also for geopolitical reasons.
When the technology will end up in iPhones and Macs
It is still unclear when 2 nm SoCs will first be used in the iPhone. The well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has good contacts in Apple's supply chain, claimed back in September that time was running out for the iPhone 17. Instead, Apple plans to use the N3P process with 3 nanometers from TSMC. The switch to the 2 nm platform will not take place until 2026 with the iPhone 18, but possibly not for all variants – for cost reasons.
The so-called risk production of the 2nm process is planned for 2025, mass production could then begin at the end of 2025 or beginning of 2026, which, according to Kuo, will not be enough for the iPhone 17. For the Mac, the M5 is due next year. This is also unlikely to be manufactured using the 2 nm process, according to the rumor mill.
Empfohlener redaktioneller Inhalt
Mit Ihrer Zustimmung wird hier ein externer Preisvergleich (heise Preisvergleich) geladen.
Ich bin damit einverstanden, dass mir externe Inhalte angezeigt werden. Damit können personenbezogene Daten an Drittplattformen (heise Preisvergleich) übermittelt werden. Mehr dazu in unserer Datenschutzerklärung.
(bsc)
