Apple has ordered about 90% of chip supplier TSMC’s first-generation 3-nanometer process capacity for future iPhones, Macs and iPads this year, according to industry sources. DigiTimesTaiwan provides foundry with a significant growth rate in the second half of 2023.
Apple’s upcoming iPhone 15 Pro models are expected to feature the A17 Bionic processor, Apple’s first “iPhone chip,” based on TSMC’s first-generation 3nm process, known as N3B. The 3nm technology is said to provide a 35% improvement in energy efficiency and 15% faster performance compared to the 4nm used to make the A16 Bionic chip for the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max.
Apple’s M3 chip for Macs and iPads is also expected to use the 3nm process. The first M3 devices are expected to include the updated 13-inch MacBook Air and 24-inch iMac, both of which will be available later this year. Next year’s new iPad Pro models will likely be equipped with M3 chips, while Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models in 2024 will have M3 Pro and MaxM3 chips.
According to the App Store developer magazine obtained by BloombergMark Gurman, Apple is currently testing a new chip with a 12-core CPU, 18-core GPU and 36GB of memory, which could be the entry-level M3 Pro for the next-generation 14-inch and 16-inch. MacBook Pro models will be released next year.
according to Information, future Apple silicon chips built on the 3nm process will have up to four matrices that will support up to 40 computing cores. The M2 chip has a 10-core CPU, while the Pro and Max have a 12-core CPU, so the 3nm multi-core can significantly improve performance. At the very least, 3nm should provide the biggest leap in performance and efficiency for Apple chips since 2020.
TSMC is also working on an advanced 3nm process called N3E. Apple devices will eventually transition to the N3E generation, which is expected to enter commercial production in the second half of 2023, but actual shipments won’t start until 2024. DigiTimes.