Digital blogger @Mobile Chip Daren from Taiwan's chip industry chain said that TSMC has decided to abandon the N3 process, because almost all customers are reluctant to use it, including Apple, and the development direction will turn to 2023 N3E process for mass production in the second half of the year. Because of the high cost of N3, N3E is more cost-effective.
In addition, because Apple is not satisfied with the performance of Ibiza, the first project based on the N3 process, Apple has canceled it, so it is difficult for users to see end products that build 3nm M3 chips in the short term.
It is reported that Apple has started the core design work of "M3", which will be released in the second half of 2023 at the earliest.
The chip is internally code-named "Malma" and will be mass-produced based on the TSMC N3E. Compared to N5, N3 can provide up to 15% performance improvement and up to 30% energy efficiency improvement, and N3E will further expand these differences.
In addition, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also said that Apple suppliers will begin mass production of new 14-inch MacBook Pro, 16-inch MacBook Pro and iPad Pro models in the fourth quarter of 2022, and all devices may continue to be equipped with 5nm chips.
He said Apple's chip manufacturing partner TSMC won't start shipping 3nm chips until January 2023, so he expects new MacBook Pro and iPad Pro models to stick with 5nm chips.
It is said that the new iPad Pro with the M2 chip is expected to be released in October, but the release time of the new MacBook Pro model is unclear. There have been previous rumors that the new MacBook Pro will be released later this year, but there are also some revelations pointing to a 2023 release.
The new MacBook Pro is expected to be equipped with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, which are expected to remain on the 5nm process. In addition to the future Mac and iPad, the A17 Bionic chip in the iPhone 15 Pro next year is also expected to be equipped with a 3nm chip, so stay tuned.
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