Apple to Pioneer TSMC's 2nm & 1.4nm Chips

In the year 2023, Apple proudly unveiled its cutting-edge M3 chip, manufactured using the advanced 3nm architecture by TSMC. The tech giant has also commenced the development of the subsequent iteration of its Apple Silicon. A recently released report suggests that Apple is poised to become a primary client for TSMC's highly anticipated 2nm chips, promising substantial performance enhancements for iPhones and Macs.

Insiders with knowledge of the matter reveal that Apple is set to be the inaugural customer for TSMC's 2nm chips, serving a range of devices, including iPhones, Macs, and iPads. TSMC is on track to initiate mass production of these 2nm chips in the latter half of 2025.

At present, Apple leverages TSMC's 3nm technology in its chip designs for MacBook and iPhone models. Last year saw the introduction of the M3 Pro and M3 Max chips for the latest MacBook Pro iterations. Additionally, the A17 Pro chip for the iPhone 15 Pro, incorporating TSMC's 3nm chips, exhibited notable performance improvements in various benchmark tests.

Performance-wise, Apple's transition from 5nm to 3nm chips resulted in a noteworthy 10% increase in CPU performance and an impressive 20% boost in GPU capabilities.

TSMC is actively engaged in bolstering the production capacity of its 2nm chips through the establishment of two new cutting-edge factories. These chips will incorporate GAAFET or nanosheet-based fully-depleted field-effect transistors (FET), offering smaller transistor sizes and reduced power consumption, despite the heightened intricacy of the manufacturing process.

Projections indicate that Apple is anticipated to integrate the 2nm process technology into its chip production cycle by 2025, with plans to deploy it in the production of the iPhone 17. This technology is also earmarked for application in the production of M-series chips for Mac. Furthermore, TSMC is actively researching and developing 1.4nm process technology, slated for unveiling in 2027, potentially positioning Apple as an early adopter of both 1.4nm and 2nm chip technologies from TSMC.