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.
“TSMC’s 3nm process is the most advanced semiconductor technology in both power, performance, and area (PPA) and in transistor technology, and a full-node advance from the 5nm generation,” the company explained in its press released dated December 29, 2022. “Compared with the 5nm (N5) process, TSMC’s 3nm process offers up to 1.6X logic density gain and 30-35% power reduction at the same speed, and supports the innovative TSMC FINFLEX architecture.”
AMD’s Ryzen 7000 Series CPUs and Navi 31 (Radeon RX 7900 Series) GPUs are built on TSMC’s 5-nanometer process, while NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4080 and GeForce RTX 4090 GPUs are built on TSMC’s 4-nanometer process.
“TSMC is maintaining its technology leadership while investing significantly in Taiwan, continuing to invest and prosper with the environment,” TSMC Chairman Dr. Mark Liu said at the ceremony. “This 3nm Volume Production and Capacity Expansion Ceremony demonstrates that we are taking concrete action to develop advanced technology and expand capacity in Taiwan. We aim to grow together with our upstream and downstream supply chain and develop future talent from design to manufacturing, packaging and testing, equipment, and materials to provide the most competitive advanced process technology and reliable capacity for the world and drive technology innovation in the future.”
TSMC goes on to discuss how much it plans to invest in its latest fabs, including the number of jobs that they will bring, as well as future expansion plans:
Phases 1 through 8 of TSMC Fab 18 each have cleanroom area of 58,000 square meters, approximately double the size of a standard logic fab. TSMC’s total investment in Fab 18 will exceed NT$1.86 trillion, creating more than 23,500 construction jobs and over 11,300 high-tech direct job opportunities. In addition to expanding 3nm capacity in Taiwan, TSMC is also building 3nm capacity at its Arizona site.
TSMC also announced that the Company’s global R&D Center in the Hsinchu Science Park will officially open in the second quarter of 2023, to be staffed by 8,000 R&D personnel. TSMC is also making preparations for its 2nm fabs, which will be located in the Hsinchu and Central Taiwan Science Parks, with a total of six phases proceeding as planned.
“TSMC has the broadest range of technologies and services in the Dedicated IC Foundry segment of the semiconductor manufacturing industry,” write the company, which was founded in 1987.