Comment by lysace
4 days ago
Made using which process? The article doesn't mention this.
https://www.tsmc.com/english/dedicatedFoundry/technology/log...
4 days ago
Made using which process? The article doesn't mention this.
https://www.tsmc.com/english/dedicatedFoundry/technology/log...
The smallest process they've got up and running right now is 4nm, last I checked
And for the record the A17 Pro chip is 3nm. Used in the iPhone 15 pro and the iPad mini.
But they could make iPhone 14’s and the smaller 15’s.
So which device will these be for then? I thought Apple stuff are always on the cutting edge node.
Their new stuff is. The iPad mini just moved from the A15 to the A17, The first MacBook with Intel processors had access to a bin that was not generally available yet. The yield was too low for it to work for an IBM, a Sony, or a Fujitsu. But Apple was low volume and high margin.
If I was nervous about a new fab, there’s the iPhone SE, the Apple TV, lots of choices for a less aggressive manufacturing node and less aggressive sales figures. If yield is shit you can still offer a product that isn’t killed by its own success.
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Apple still produces older generation devices long after the latest ones are released. That's their whole strategy to address the lower end market.
iPhone SE
As an outsider that means somewhere in 2nm-10nm as everyone measures different things or have awfully off-standard rulers.
I’d say it means TSMC 4nm.
4nm
I thought Taiwan prohibited export of this kind of know-how? What did I miss?
They have adopted a n-2 type of rule for advanaced tech...but as of yesterday they seem to have relaxed this rule and approved transfer of 2nm from Taiwan fabs to the AZ fab at some point in the near future.
https://www.extremetech.com/computing/tsmc-cleared-for-2nm-p...
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ASML, a Dutch firm, sells photolithography equipment to TSMC.