TSMC to start producing 3nm Chip from next month

TSMC will begin mass producing chips using its leading-edge N3 manufacturing process this September. The contract chipmaker will deliver the first products made using its N3 node to its customers early next year.

TSMC is developing an N3E node with an improved process window that will feature a slightly lower transistor density that is projected to enter mass production about a year after N3. Eventually, TSMC will add N3P, N3S, and N3X nodes to its 3nm family.

When compared to the original N5 manufacturing technology, the initial N3 fabrication process is projected to offer a 10% to 15% performance improvement at the same power and complexity, reduce power consumption by 25%-30% at the same speed and transistor count, and increase logic density by around 1.6 times.

TSMC’s FinFlex tech is one of the key features of N3, enabling chip developers to mix and match different kinds of standard cells within one block to accurately optimize performance, power consumption, and area. FinFlex is particularly beneficial for complex things like CPU or GPU cores, so companies will be able to build better processors and graphics processors for PCs and high-performance computing applications.