Apple Has Procured TSMC’s Entire First Run of 3nm Chips

In August 2021, we published “Everybody Wants a Piece of TSMC’s 3nm Process Node.” Back then, it was clear there would be a lot of behind-the-scenes jockeying for a piece of TSMC’s next-generation silicon. The battle, as it was reported, was between Intel and Apple. Intel wanted it for upcoming iGPU tiles and Apple for its A-and-M series silicon. Since that time, a lot has changed for both companies. Apple became the first company in history with a $3 trillion dollar market cap in 2022. As for Intel, well, let’s just be charitable and say it’s having a bit of a rough ride lately. Given these circumstances, it’s not a huge surprise to learn Apple has snatched up all of TSMC’s first generation 3nm wafer capacity.

News of Apple’s lavish purchase comes from DigiTimes via MacRumors. TSMC announced it had begun production on its 3nm node in December of 2022. At the time, it wasn’t clear if it had secured any customers for its nascent technology. It followed up that news by stating it was going to have a “smooth ramp” throughout 2023, indicating there wasn’t a huge clamor for its newest process. Now it’s being reported that yields are better than expected. This will allow TSMC to ramp up to 45,000 wafers a month by March. For context, TSMC reportedly produces 1.3 million wafers a month, so this is like an artisan, small-batch product. Apple is expected to tap this node for its upcoming A17 Bionic SoC, which will go into the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. It’ll also be using it for its next-gen M3 SoCs as well.

Apple recently announced the M2 Pro and Max, but not the Ultra. It’s unclear if that flagship SoC will use the new 3nm node or be built on N4 like the existing chips. What’s also unknown is whether companies other than Apple had a chance to secure wafer capacity but passed on the offer. TSMC has stated N3 will be the first version of its new technology. However, the more mature N3E will be arriving in mid-2023. It’s possible some companies also passed on the first generation due to its cost compared with the very mature N4 node. Apple used that very same node on the products it just announced. AMD and Nvidia are also currently using it for their GPUs.

Macrumors states that Apple will also be the first customer for N3E later this year. Intel was supposedly going to join Apple at the N3 table by purchasing GPU tiles for its upcoming Meteor Lake CPUs. However, delays might have forced it to go with N4 instead. With Apple’s purchase, it looks like Intel will be left out in the cold for the first run of N3. Since N3E is supposed to be coming online around the time Meteor Lake launches, we won’t be surprised to see its iGPU be an N4 product.

The purchase by Apple is exciting for the industry, as 3nm promises to be a blockbuster node for TSMC. In fact, TSMC is so confident that it raised prices for Apple, and the company reportedly buckled in negotiations over it. Despite the now-finalized agreement, we won’t see the first 3nm chips for another six months, at least.

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