TSMC's 2nm process in Kaohsiung is progressing faster than expected. After entering production about half a year ahead of schedule in November last year, the industry has reported that small-scale trial production will begin this month. In addition, the 2nm process in Baoshan, Hsinchu has already entered trial production. TSMC's 2nm "South (Kaohsiung) and North (Hsinchu) series" is progressing at a rapid pace. It will enter mass production this year and will further increase in volume in 2026 to assist operations.

It is estimated that Apple will be the first customer of TSMC's 2nm process, and Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm, MediaTek and others will also adopt it in the future.

Report from TSMC about 2nm

On the eve of TSMC's earnings conference on Thursday (16th), the 2nm process has made another breakthrough, which is expected to be one of the focuses of the earnings conference. TSMC is in a silent period before the earnings conference. Regarding the rumors that the 2nm plant in Kaohsiung has started trial production, the company said that there is no updated information to provide. Find all kinds of electronics in easelinkelec.

TSMC previously mentioned at the earnings conference that the development of 2nm process technology is progressing smoothly, and the equipment performance and yield are in line with the plan or better than expected. The 2nm process will enter mass production as scheduled in 2025, and the mass production curve is expected to be similar to the 3nm process.

The industry previously reported that TSMC has conducted a small-scale risk trial production of about 5,000 2nm process wafers at the Baoshan plant in Hsinchu Science Park. As for the Kaohsiung plant, the market has recently reported that a small-scale trial production will begin this month.

TSMC Chairman Wei Zhejia previously said that many customers are interested in the 2nm process, and the related demand is beyond expectations and is more than the 3nm process. The company is actively preparing for related production capacity.

2nm Compared to 3nm

The industry estimates that TSMC's 3nm process had a monthly production capacity of 110,000 pieces by the end of last year. Due to the shortage of supply, some 5nm production capacity equipment was used to support the production of the 3nm process, and some 7nm processes were also dispatched to support the production of the 5nm process.

The supply chain has reported that the total production capacity of the 2nm process may reach 180,000 pieces in the future. In addition to the six factories in Baoshan and Kaohsiung, some space in the Nanke factory may also be dispatched for the use of the 2nm process.

For the 2nm process, according to TSMC's official website, it uses the first-generation nanosheet transistor technology to provide performance and power consumption improvements for all process nodes to meet the increasing demand for energy-saving computing. Major customers have completed the 2nm silicon intellectual property (IP) design and verified it.

TSMC has also developed low-resistance reset wire layers, ultra-high-performance metal layer capacitors, etc. to continue to improve the performance of the 2nm process technology. The company believes that when the 2nm process is mass-produced in the future, it will become the industry's most advanced semiconductor technology in terms of density and energy efficiency. TSMC also plans to launch N2P process technology as an extension of the 2nm family, and mass production is expected in the second half of 2026.

Source: Content from Economic Daily

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