On February 24th, at a recent meeting of TSMC suppliers, Liu Deyin, the co-CEO of the chip maker, said that they will produce small-scale 5-nanometer process chips in the first half of 2019. At the meeting, Liu Deyin also stated that the company is currently developing well on advanced technology research and development and has achieved good results. He also disclosed details on the development of 3-nanometer process chip technology.
“We have arranged about 6000 R&D personnel for the development of 5nm process technology. In addition, although the development of 3nm process technology will take some time, we are very optimistic about the development of this technology. For 3nm process We have already arranged hundreds of engineers in our research projects."
If everything goes according to plan, TSMC will become the first chip manufacturer with 5-nanometer process technology, which will help TSMC maintain its technological advantage in the global contract chip manufacturing market.
TSMC won most of the iPhone 7 series core processor orders, occupying 55% of the global market share. In addition, they may have exclusive iPhone 10th Anniversary series chip orders. In the next update of the iPhone processor, Apple may adopt a 10-nanometer process, and currently the iPhone 7 processor uses a 16-nanometer process.
The smaller the nanometer process, the more advanced the chip, but the more difficult it is to develop and manufacture.
Samsung and TSMC are currently working on the production of 10-nm process chips to compete for market share. TSMC will begin mass production of 10-nanometer chips in the third quarter of 2016 and shipments of this chip will start this quarter. Its customers include Apple, Huawei and MediaTek.
Intel also announced that it will begin shipments of 10nm process chips for PCs this year. In addition, Intel supports the Trump administration in promoting tax cuts and deregulation. It will establish a Fab 42 plant in Arizona and will mainly develop 7nm processes.