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Apple chip supplier TSMC has confirmed that it will begin mass production operations at its new factory in Arizona in 2024, Nikkei Asia reports.

tsmc_semiconductor_chip_inspection_678x452.jpg

TSMC Chairman Mark Liu announced that the company's $12 billion factory in Phoenix, Arizona, which is currently under construction, will begin mass production in the first quarter of 2024. While the 2024 timeframe had previously been rumored by Bloomberg, TSMC's announcement serves as a confirmation and indicates that the project is on track.

The first batch of engineers hired to staff the new U.S. factory arrived in Taiwan in late April this year for training, and the company is looking to accelerate its schedule for the facility as much as possible.

The facility will mass-produce chips fabricated with a 5nm process. TSMC has been gradually miniaturizing its process over the years, going from a 16nm A10 chip in iPhone 7 models, to a 7nm A13 chip in iPhone 11 models, and most recently a 5nm process for the iPhone 12's A14 chip. Likely clients for the chips made in the Arizona factory include Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Apple. The new Arizona plant will make it theoretically possible for Apple's 5nm custom silicon chips, such as the A14 or M1 chip, to be manufactured within the United States.

TSMC's main factories are located in Taiwan, but it already operates a factory in Camas, Washington, as well as design centers in Austin, Texas and San Jose, California, meaning that the Arizona facility will be its second manufacturing site in the United States.

Alongside the news about the Arizona factory, TSMC also said that it was looking into chip production sites in Japan, likely for chips destined for Sony devices, and set out the intention to build up overseas manufacturing capacity to ensure long-term competitiveness.

Article Link: Apple's Chip Partner TSMC to Begin Mass Production of 5nm Chips at New Arizona Factory in 2024
 

dlewis23

macrumors 65816
Oct 23, 2007
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5nm in 2024? So chips for old stuff.

Nothing old or outdated about it. There are chips today being produced on many times larger processes that are still top performing. Most of the chips in the devices you have are not using the latest and greatest smallest process.

Somethings don't need to made smaller or have been really hard to make smaller. Go look at AMD's Chiplet design.
 

cmaier

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Jul 25, 2007
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Nothing old or outdated about it. There are chips today being produced on many times larger processes that are still top performing. Most of the chips in the devices you have are not using the latest and greatest smallest process.

Somethings don't need to made smaller or have been really hard to make smaller. Go look at AMD's Chiplet design.

What chips produced today are produced on many times larger processes and are “top performing?”

AMD’s chiplet design is not “many times larger process.”

And telling me to “go look” at AMD chip designs is kind of funny (google me).
 

osufan88

macrumors newbie
Dec 22, 2014
13
23
Tulsa, OK
Nothing old or outdated about it. There are chips today being produced on many times larger processes that are still top performing. Most of the chips in the devices you have are not using the latest and greatest smallest process.

Somethings don't need to made smaller or have been really hard to make smaller. Go look at AMD's Chiplet design.
What he's saying is that Apple will most likely not be using that nodes size then. I think 2-years on the same size node is the longest Apple has ever stayed on one. This year will be tieing the record for being on a single node the longest. 2022 would mean they broke the record at 3 years. I could MAYYYBE see that. 2023 would be 4 YEARS on one node, double their record. 2024 would be 5 years....

I agree that in 2024, there will be many (less expensive) items that use 5nm. There's not a snowballs chance in hell that Apple will be using it for anything other than several year old products.
 

jz0309

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Sep 25, 2018
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Timing for new fab sounds right, which technology they will actually do at that point remains to be seen, things can change still
 

cmaier

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Jul 25, 2007
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God no! who's gonna post 24/7 in MR then?!


Just did:
View attachment 1806716

Don’t know that guy.

How about this one?

 

dlewis23

macrumors 65816
Oct 23, 2007
1,149
1,827
What he's saying is that Apple will most likely not be using that nodes size then. I think 2-years on the same size node is the longest Apple has ever stayed on one. This year will be tieing the record for being on a single node the longest. 2022 would mean they broke the record at 3 years. I could MAYYYBE see that. 2023 would be 4 YEARS on one node, double their record. 2024 would be 5 years....

I agree that in 2024, there will be many (less expensive) items that use 5nm. There's not a snowballs chance in hell that Apple will be using it for anything other than several year old products.

They put a 2.5 year old CPU in the newest Apple TV. By the time we get the next update to that these CPU's will be going in that.
 

bradman83

macrumors 6502a
Oct 29, 2020
857
2,032
Buffalo, NY
What he's saying is that Apple will most likely not be using that nodes size then. I think 2-years on the same size node is the longest Apple has ever stayed on one. This year will be tieing the record for being on a single node the longest. 2022 would mean they broke the record at 3 years. I could MAYYYBE see that. 2023 would be 4 YEARS on one node, double their record. 2024 would be 5 years....

I agree that in 2024, there will be many (less expensive) items that use 5nm. There's not a snowballs chance in hell that Apple will be using it for anything other than several year old products.
Apple has historically done two years on the same size node (with improvements) as the norm. The A12 was 7nm, the A13 was refined 7nm, the A14 was 5nm, the A15 will be refined 5nm. Pretty reasonable the A14 or A15 will still be kicking around in Apple's consumer offerings in 2024 given they just updated the Apple TV in 2021 with the 2018 A12.
 

neuropsychguy

macrumors 68020
Sep 29, 2008
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Mac4Mat

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May 12, 2021
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IBM's 2nm is really proof of concept, it will be a considerable time before it enters commercial production.
Am surprised though that TSMC is aiming for US production of the 5nm for 2024.
 

ChrisA

macrumors G5
Jan 5, 2006
12,537
1,644
Redondo Beach, California
5nm in 2024? So chips for old stuff.
There must be 100 "chips" in the typical cell phone and 1,000 in the typical computer. But all of them are not the CPU chip.

Take even a $10 generic mouse apart and look inside, there are a lot of "chips" and each one of them is made in a "fab". Most of these sell for a few cents. and don't make the news. Less then 1% are CPU chips. You don't waste a <5 nm process on a 5 cent part.

When you hear of the chip factory you think of the glamorous chips but 99% of them are not
 
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