Tsmc appears to be ready for 5nm chip manufacturing

TSMC has obtained a ton of new orders, primarily advanced AI solutions, requiring 7nm and 5nm process capabilities in 2019, according to industry sources. Yes, we are already talking about 5nm for next year.

TSMC has received large orders for 7nm and 5nm nodes during 2019

TSMC has started mass production of 7nm chips for smartphone SoCs, and is preparing for 5nm chip production in 2019. The manufacturer has committed to chip with both nodes next year.

Demand from AI chip companies is expected to be higher than from other companies in 2019 for both the 7nm and 5nm nodes as AI solutions demand higher computing performance and lower power consumption. So TSMC is going to have a lot of work, in addition to making processors for AMD, Apple and other major companies.

Qualcomm and MediaTek have recently introduced smartphone chips that use the 12/14 nm process, indicating their efforts to improve offerings for the mid-range and upper-middle-range segments, the sources said.

As mobile phone SoC providers have been encountering a 'slowdown' in the smartphone market and in ASPs, they are now being more cautious with advanced chip development and taking more rigorous control of spending. R&D before the arrival of 5G, sources said.

With this data on the table, it is possible that the first processors and graphics cards in 5nm would arrive during 2020, and that 7nm would reign in 2019 with AMD as the main protagonist.

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