Commercial production has begun on TSMC’s 7nm chip. This is the same chip likely to be found in Apple’s upcoming A12 processor for all three 2018 iPhone models.
According to DigiTimes, the announcement came from newly appointed TSMC CEO C.C. Wei, who addressed speculation that 7nm product was facing “slower-than-expected” yield rates. Nonetheless, TSMC’s overall. Production capacity is expected to rise for 10.5 million wafers to 2017 to 12 million before the end of this year.
They explain:
Orders for Apple’s custom A12 processor for use in the upcoming iPhones will play a major driver of TSMC’s 7nm chip production growth in 2018, according to market sources. The foundry has secured 7nm chip orders from about 20 customers including AMD, Bitmain, Nvidia and Qualcomm. The majority of the orders will be carried out in the first half of 2019, the sources said.
Apple’s likely to stick with the 7nm for the 2019 iPhones before making a switch to 5nm in 2020.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the largest contract chip maker in the world, began developing the chips for the Apple A12 last fall. The largest contract chip maker in the world has been making chips based on Apple’s blueprints for several years now as the iPhone maker has been cutting its reliance on Samsung’s semiconductor foundry services.
TSMC has some 470 customers worldwide.
Apple’s expected to introduce three new iPhones this Fall, including a second-generation iPhone X, all-new 6.5-inch “iPhone X Plus,” and a less expensive 6.1-inch iPhone 8 successor. The first two models are likely to feature an OLED display, while the last one will keep LCD.
The 2018 iPhone models should launch alongside at least one new iPad Pro, the “Apple Watch Series 4,” and hopefully, new Macs.
Earlier this month, Apple revealed iOS 12, tvOS 12, watchOS 5, and macOS Mojave. It didn’t announce new hardware, however.