TSMC 3-Nanometer Technology Successfully Enters Volume Production, with Good Yields

[Tsing]

TSMC is on solid footing for producing even more advanced chips, according to a new press release that the company shared today about how it had held a 3-nanometer Volume Production and Capacity Expansion Ceremony at its new Fab 18 construction site in Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP), bringing together suppliers, construction partners, central and local government, the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association, and members of academia to witness the important milestone of 3-nanometer technology having successfully entered volume production with good yields.

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[Grimlakin]

That is scary awesome! Love to see it. I wonder how they keep the paths clean and stop crosstalk between channels. At 3NM you have to have some pretty bad *** materials and conductivity understanding. Or is that not on them but the chip designers?

 

[Brian_B]

Kinda crazy to think in the span of 40 years I’ve seen (and used) processors spanning from about 1.5 um to this. That’s .. about 3 orders of magnitude improvement?

 

[aztekk]

That's good and all, but TSMC seriously needs to adjust their prices, which they hiked up in the past couple of years. There was that news article regarding all of their largest customers cutting orders and I don't see how they can continue charging these inflated rates when clearly consumer electronics as a whole is entering a bear market, consumers choosing to prioritize basic necessities among other reasons.

 

[SmokeRngs]

That's good and all, but TSMC seriously needs to adjust their prices, which they hiked up in the past couple of years. There was that news article regarding all of their largest customers cutting orders and I don't see how they can continue charging these inflated rates when clearly consumer electronics as a whole is entering a bear market, consumers choosing to prioritize basic necessities among other reasons.

To an extent they have no choice but to raise prices. Not only does the cost of R&D increase to put these nodes into use but the cost of equipment which can fab these nodes is probably also much higher in price. Beyond that the materials for fabbing have been much higher in price as well.

I'm not saying TSCM's price increases aren't at least partially profit motivated but there may not be a whole lot of wiggle room in lowering prices.