TSMC's 2nm process will be put into mass production in the second half of next year, and trial production is in full swing. The process of getting equipment into Fab20 in Baoshan, Hsinchu has come to an end, and trial production will begin in July. The first P1 plant of Fab22 in Kaohsiung is also about to be completed, and equipment installation is expected in December, and trial production will begin as early as the second quarter of next year.

Foreign media reported that TSMC's 2nm process has been put into risk trial production to ensure a stable yield before mass production. As early as December last year, TSMC had shown the test results of the 2nm process technology prototype to Apple and Nvidia.

What about the progress of the 2nm trial production? TSMC said that the 2nm process technology is proceeding as planned. The construction of wafer factories in Kaohsiung and Arizona, the United States, is proceeding as planned and progressing well.

Liu Peizhen, director of the Industrial Economic Database of the Taiwan Institute of Economics, said in an exclusive interview with Taibao that TSMC originally planned to conduct 2nm trial production in the second half of this year, and it was previously heard that the installation time was earlier than originally expected. It seems that 2nm is expected to enter mass production in the second half of next year.

As for where the 2nm production base is located? She mentioned that Baoshan, Hsinchu is the first 2nm production base. In addition, after the completion of the three factories in Kaohsiung, 2nm chips will also be produced simultaneously.

01 Trial production in Q2 next year

Kaohsiung plant will start equipment installation! 

According to the media, citing the supply chain, the first 2-nanometer plant in Kaohsiung is about to be completed, and equipment installation is expected to start in December, with trial production as early as the second quarter of next year. As for the installation schedule of the second plant in Kaohsiung, it will fall in the second half of next year or even the beginning of the year after next. The monthly production capacity of the two plants is about 20,000 pieces.

As for overseas plants, the first plant of Fab21 in Arizona, USA, is undergoing trial production and will mass produce 4 nanometers next year. Liu Peizhen believes that TSMC's most advanced process will be run in Taiwan first, and it is also necessary to confirm whether the "yield" can reach a certain level and measure the cost performance. It will only be moved to the United States for mass production of related production lines later, which is a more reasonable situation.

According to the latest report from Morgan Stanley, TSMC's 2-nanometer monthly production capacity will increase from this year's 10,000 trial production scale to about 50,000 next year. By 2026, the A20 chip built into Apple's iPhone 18 will be mass-produced using a 2-nanometer process, and the monthly production capacity will reach 80,000 pieces. The 3nm production capacity will be simultaneously expanded to 140,000 wafers, of which the Arizona plant in the United States will have a production capacity of 20,000 wafers.

02 Macbook Pro

The first product with a 2-nanometer chip built in

Apple is undoubtedly TSMC's largest customer, contributing 25% of TSMC's revenue last year. Apple will also become TSMC's first 2nm customer. It is reported that it has booked all of TSMC's initial 2nm production capacity for the production of M5 chips. The MacBook Pro laptop with built-in M5 chip is expected to become the first batch of new products using 2nm process.

In addition to the MacBook Pro laptop, well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo recently stated that the processor of the iPhone 17 (codenamed A19) in 2025 will still use TSMC's N3P (second-generation 3nm) process; the processor of the iPhone 18 in 2026 will adopt the 2nm process, but based on cost considerations, by then, it may not be the entire series of iPhone 18 processors that use 2nm.

03 Which other IC design houses will place orders for 2nm?

Liu Peizhen mentioned that in addition to Apple, IC design companies such as high-performance computing, AI chips and even mobile phone processors will be TSMC's 2nm customers. "AMD, Nvidia, MediaTek and Qualcomm are all potential 2nm customers." There are also opportunities in the automotive electronics field. For example, NXP may adopt 2nm in the later stage. She pointed out that in terms of 2nm order status, TSMC is obviously better than Intel and Samsung. Many major manufacturers have expressed that they will place orders for TSMC 2nm. Therefore, there will not be too much problem in filling the 2nm capacity utilization in the future. The strength of 3nm and N3P orders will continue to the 2nm process, and continue to establish TSMC's international position as a leader in the world's advanced process.

04 Wei Zhejia: Customers hope to enter the 2nm process as soon as possible

How eager are IC design giants for 2nm? TSMC Chairman and President Wei Zhejia once said that customers have shown great interest and participation in 2nm. They all hope to enter N2 (2nm), N2P and even A16 processes as soon as possible. At the same time, they also hope that the subsequent advanced processes can further reduce power consumption. Wei Zhejia hopes to establish sufficient production capacity in the next two years to meet customer needs.

"TSMC's 2nm technology uses a nanosheet transistor structure, which will be the most advanced semiconductor technology in the industry in terms of density and energy efficiency." He also said domineeringly, "After TSMC enters the 2nm process, there will be only one manufacturer in the world that is not a TSMC customer, and the rest are all." TSMC will start mass production of 2nm in the fourth quarter of 2025; as for the actual contribution of 2nm to revenue, it will start from the end of the first quarter or the beginning of the second quarter of 2026.

Wei Zhejia emphasized that N2 is a very complex and large technology node. Customers took a longer time to prepare product design finalizations (tape outs). So they all contacted TSMC at an early stage, hoping to ensure product blueprints and increase production capacity. From the perspective of product cycle time, N2 will contribute more to revenue than N3, just as N3 contributes more to revenue than N5.

05 Do Samsung and Intel want to overtake others?

As for TSMC's competitor Samsung, according to previous reports by Korean media, Samsung's 2nm (GAA surround gate) yield rate is less than 20%, and it has also decided to withdraw from the Taylor plant in Texas, USA, leaving only a small number of staff. Liu Peizhen said, "Samsung's investment in its US plants has slowed down, reflecting the company's difficulties in the foundry business. It is indeed unable to take more customers from TSMC."

Speaking of Intel, she said frankly, "They are currently facing layoffs and capital expenditure cuts, as well as many operational disturbances. They cannot focus on the advancement of advanced processes. It is indeed difficult for them to overtake TSMC."

TSMC's senior vice president of business development and global business and deputy co-chief operating officer Zhang Xiaoqiang once pointed out that N2 (2 nanometers) technology is a revolutionary node, changing the transistor architecture from FinFET (fin field-effect transistor) to Nanosheet (nanosheet transistor). Through continuous strengthening and innovative structural design technology synergy optimization, nanosheet transistors can provide excellent energy efficiency; N2 is currently progressing smoothly, with a conversion target of 90% and a yield of more than 80%.

Through component width adjustment, N2 with NanoFlex innovative technology can maximize the advantages of performance, power consumption, and area (PPA). The lower components can effectively save area and have higher energy efficiency, while the higher components maximize performance. Customers can optimize the combination of high and low components in the same design block, increase the speed by 15%, and achieve the best balance between area and energy efficiency.

TSMC said that the 2nm process technology provides full-generation performance and power consumption advantages. Compared with N3E, the speed is increased by 10-15% at the same power consumption; at the same speed, the power consumption is reduced by 25-30%, and the chip density is increased by more than 15%. The number of product design finalizations (tape outs) of 2nm technology in the first two years will be higher than that of 3nm and 5nm in the same period.

TSMC emphasized that the research and development of 2nm process technology is progressing smoothly, and the device performance and yield are in accordance with the plan or even better than expected. It will enter mass production as scheduled in 2025, and its mass production curve is expected to be similar to that of 3nm. N2P is an extension of the 2nm family. It has a 5% performance increase over N2 and a 5-10% power consumption reduction advantage. It is planned to be mass-produced in the second half of 2026. N2X is also planned to be launched in 2026.

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