The world's leading foundry, Taiwan's TSMC, has achieved full utilization of its 3-nanometer (1 nanometer is one billionth of a meter) advanced process, fueled by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI).
According to market research firm Counterpoint Research on the 21st, TSMC's 3-nanometer process reached a utilization rate of 100% in just 5 quarters, the shortest period since mass production began.
This is the result of a surge in demand for the Apple A17 Pro and A18 Pro, as well as central processing units (CPUs) for PCs and other application processors (AP AoCs).
The high utilization rate is expected to continue due to increasing demand for AI chips such as Nvidia's Rubin, Google TPU v7, and AWS Trainium3, as well as high-performance computing (HPC).
A nanometer is a unit that refers to the width of semiconductor circuit lines; the narrower the line width, the less power consumption and faster processing speed. The 3-nanometer process is currently the most advanced mass production technology.
Counterpoint Research predicts that TSMC's 2-nanometer process, which is expected to begin mass production in the second half of this year, will reach full utilization within 4 quarters after mass production.
This is faster than any previous process, influenced by a significant increase in demand for smartphones and AI-related products simultaneously.
TSMC also noted in its recent first-quarter earnings announcement that "new designs for 2-nanometer technology are expected to surpass those for 3-nanometer and 5/4-nanometer within the first 2 years of mass production, and smartphone and HPC applications will drive demand."
Counterpoint Research stated, "In addition to Apple, Qualcomm, MediaTek, Intel, and AMD are also said to be considering the adoption of 2-nanometer technology," and predicted that "this adoption of 2-nanometer technology will contribute to maintaining a high utilization rate for the 2-nanometer process."