TSMC has been in the news a fair bit recently, with updates regarding its process nodes advancements and financial investments. As reported by ChinaTimes, TSMC has over 50% yields on 5nm process node, outperforming the 7nm process back when it was at this stage. AMD, Apple and Huawei are expected to be the first to get the first batch of 5nm chips.
As the guys at PCGamesN (via ChinaTimes) stated, the jump to the 5nm process node when comparing to 7nm, would mean a rise of 80% in transistor density. This increase in transistor density could translate to a 15% boost in clock frequency at the same power consumption, or a 30% improvement in power efficiency at the same clock frequency.
5nm process node mass production is slated for the first quarter of 2020. For now, reported yield rate is at 50%, but it's expected to reach 70% in the future, without discarding the possibility of an 80% rate.
Image credit: PCGamesN
Apple's A14 and Huawei's Kirin 1000 are expected to use TSMC's 5nm node for its SoCs in 2020, as AMD Zen 4 will too, in 2021.
Regarding TSMC's 3nm process node, JK Wang, senior vice president of fab operations at TSMC, plans the start of 3nm HVM (high volume manufacturing) by 2022. This means that the release of the 3nm node is currently running one year ahead of the initially scheduled date.
Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.
KitGuru says: Do you think that we will have 5nm CPUs on the market by 2021?