TSMC Starts Production of ‘M3’ Chips for Mac Built on 3nm Process [DigiTimes]

Citing unnamed industry sources, a report by DigiTimes is claiming that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has started pilot production of chips for Apple’s upcoming products based on its 3nm process called N3 (via MacRumors).

M3 ships

The Taiwanese chipmaker plans to move the process to volume production by Q4 of 2022, notes the report, adding that it will start shipping these chips to Apple and Intel in the first quarter of 2023.

Based on earlier reports, the first Apple devices with 3nm chips will include Macs with M3 chips and iPhone 15 models with an A17 chip.

It was also reported last month that some of the M3 chips will have up to four dies which could translate into those chips having up to a 40-core CPU.

As usual, this process advancement should allow for performance and power efficiency improvements, which can lead to faster speeds and/or longer battery life on future iPhones and Macs. The first series of Apple silicon Macs powered by M1 chips already deliver industry-leading performance per watt while running impressively quiet and cool.

Next year’s M2-based Macs and the iPhone 14 series are expected to use chips based on TSMC’s N4 process.

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