TSMC wins a large number of orders for chips below 7nm

According to Taiwanese media reports, a source from a semiconductor equipment supplier said that TSMC has received a large number of orders from major suppliers in the United States requiring it to manufacture under 7nm.

According to sources, almost all suppliers who can develop 3nm chip designs and can withstand the increasing contract manufacturing costs have placed orders with TSMC. The source also said that the pure-generation factory has seen customers waiting in line for their available 3nm FinFET process capabilities through advance payment.

According to sources, Apple has signed a contract with TSMC to make its internally developed processors to support the upcoming iPhone, iPad, Mac and MacBook series. Intel is another major customer demanding TSMC's 7nm and 5nm process technology, and is believed to be one of the first customers to be manufactured using TSMC's 3nm process, the source said.

TSMC is expected to complete orders for more than 10 million Mac chips by the end of 2022 and will become a contract manufacturing partner for Apple's AR headphones and other new products, according to sources.

According to sources, the Meteor Lake CPU, which Intel plans to launch in 2023, will be manufactured using Intel 4 process technology, and its GPU block (GPU tiles) will be manufactured using TSMC's 3nm FinFET process. Intel's Arrow Lake will succeed Meteor Lake, in 2024 and its graphics blocks will also be manufactured using TSMC's 3nm process technology.

Intel is also expected to be one of the initial customers of TSMC's 2nm process, which is reported to be using GAA transistors, according to sources. The Lunar Lake CPU, which Intel plans to launch in 2025, will use graphics blocks made by TSMC's 2nm process, according to sources.

Sources pointed out that Qualcomm adopted a low-key approach to expand chip orders with TSMC, and TSMC also recaptured orders for 5nm and 3nm chips from Nvidia. At the same time, TSMC remains the main contract partner for AMD advanced processors and benefits most from the growing market share of CPU suppliers, the source said.

Despite the new GAA transistor technology, Samsung Electronics has not received a large number of orders for its 3nm process, except for its own-brand smartphones and other terminal products, the sources said.