by Hartley Charlton
Apple chipmaker TSMC has announced plans to produce cutting-edge 1.6nm chips that could be designed for future generations of Apple processors.
Yesterday, TSMC introduced a number of technologies, including the “A16” process, which is a 1.6 nm process technology. The new technology significantly increases logic density and chip performance, promising significant improvements for high-performance computing (HPC) products and data centers.
Historically, Apple is one of the first companies to introduce new, cutting-edge chip production technologies. For example, it was the first company to use TSMC's 3nm process with the A17 Pro chip in the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max and Apple will likely follow suit with the chipmaker's future nodes. Apple's most advanced chip designs have historically appeared in the iPhone, before making their way into the iPad and Mac lines and eventually spreading to the Apple Watch and Apple TV.
The A16 technology, which TSMC plans to begin production in 2026, includes innovative nanosheet transistors and a new rear power rail solution. This development is expected to provide an 8-10% increase in speed and a 15-20% reduction in power consumption at the same speeds compared to TSMC's N2P process, as well as a 1.10x increase in chip density.
TSMC also announced the introduction of its System-on-Wafer (SoW) technology, which combines multiple dies on a single wafer to increase processing power while occupying less space—a development that could transform how Apple data centers operate. TSMC's first SoW offering, already in production, is based on Integrated Fan-Out (InFO) technology. A more advanced version of chip-on-wafer using CoWoS technology should be ready in 2027.
TSMC is also making progress on 2nm and 1.4nm chips that will likely be designed for future generations of Apple silicon. Its 2nm “N2” process technology is scheduled to enter trial production in the second half of 2024 and mass production in late 2025, followed by an advanced “N2P” process in late 2026. Trial production of the 2nm node will begin in the second half of the year. In 2027, facilities in Taiwan will begin to shift to the production of 1.4nm “A14” chips.
Apple's upcoming A18 chips for the iPhone 16 lineup are expected to be based on the N3E, and the “A19” model for &zwnj ;iPhone&zwnj 2025; This is expected to be Apple's first 2nm chip. Next year, Apple will likely move to an improved version of this 2nm node, and then to the recently announced 1.6nm process.
Each subsequent TSMC node surpasses its predecessor in terms of transistor density, productivity and efficiency. . Late last year, it turned out that TSMC had already shown prototypes of 2nm chips to Apple ahead of their expected release in 2025.
Tags: Apple Silicon Guide, TSMC[ 63 comments ]
