Wednesday, September 25th 2019

TSMC to Begin Mass Production of 5nm Chips in 2020

According to industry sources over at DigiTimes, TSMC will begin mass production of its 5 nm node in March 2020, when companies using the 5 nm PDK can tape out their designs and integrate them into future products. Going into volume production two years after the 7 nm node, 5 nm is trying to put Moore's Law back on track again.

Built using the Extreme Ultra-Violet lithography (also known as EUV), 5 nm node is supposed to utilize existing FinFET transistors along with many improvements in speed, power and density when compared to existing 7 nm node. Speed is supposed to increase by around 15%, while density will improve by as much as 80%, which is excellent news for everyone. Noticeable power reduction is also present and it is now possible to have about 30% reduction in power consumption, while also enjoying additional speed and density improvements that new node brings.
Source: DigiTimes
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20 Comments on TSMC to Begin Mass Production of 5nm Chips in 2020

#1
RH92
TSMC is on a mission , they just need to increase their production capacity .
Posted on Reply
#2
Unregistered
Looks like great progress, unfortunately it also means even more price increases if no other fabs can compete with them.
Posted on Edit | Reply
#3
knobling
The increased density is almost useless anymore for high power chips as the silicon can't transfer the even more concentrated heat away any faster.
Posted on Reply
#4
notb
knoblingThe increased density is almost useless anymore for high power chips as the silicon can't transfer the even more concentrated heat away any faster.
In case you haven't noticed: large, highly clocked desktop CPU are not the only thing one can make from silicon.
5nm will be welcome in mobile CPUs (both ARM and x86) and in IoT.
Posted on Reply
#5
Turmania
Will AMD entertain us at 05/05/2020?
Posted on Reply
#6
Space Lynx
Astronaut
TurmaniaWill AMD entertain us at 05/05/2020?
no, ryzen 4000 is already all taped out and its on 7nm EUV node... this 5nm EUV is probably for cell phone chips at first
Posted on Reply
#7
zlobby
lynx29no, ryzen 4000 is already all taped out
Like, totally.
Posted on Reply
#8
Turmania
lynx29no, ryzen 4000 is already all taped out and its on 7nm EUV node... this 5nm EUV is probably for cell phone chips at first
it does not have to be a CPU it can be a GPU...
Posted on Reply
#10
Prima.Vera
LOL Intel... 14nm++++++++++++++++++++++ :)))))
Posted on Reply
#11
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
Id like to see a fab refined
Posted on Reply
#12
R-T-B
eidairaman1Id like to see a fab refined
You... want to clarify what that is supposed to mean or you just going to leave us hanging?

Fabs are certainly being retrofitted as we speak if their market target date is next year.
Posted on Reply
#13
quadibloc
And here I thought it was their 7nm+, the version of 7nm that used EUV, that was coming in 2020, and we would have to wait for 2021 for 5nm. So this is an ambitious schedule.
Posted on Reply
#14
Ravenlord
"...7 nm node, 5 nm is trying to put Moore's Law back on track again. "

Please... stop this bullshit with Moore's Law. Theory which was very lucky for him and which was met by people moving on his track.
Posted on Reply
#15
BorgOvermind
RH92TSMC is on a mission , they just need to increase their production capacity .
If they would invest much more into mass production there would be less $ for innovation, which in the long term is bad.
Posted on Reply
#16
notb
BorgOvermindIf they would invest much more into mass production there would be less $ for innovation, which in the long term is bad.
Incorrect.

R&D costs (unallocated) don't depend on how much of the product you sell, while manufacturing costs do (allocated).

The more you spend on R&D, the more you have to sell afterwards.
Or backwards: expected gross profit limits how much you can spend on R&D.

What makes TSMC's situation special is that there isn't much competition.
They can make their target revenue with high price and low volume.
Posted on Reply
#17
Super XP
This is great. I wonder if AMD is aiming ZEN3 for 5nm? Or going to a more mature 7nm+ is the better option?
Posted on Reply
#19
RH92
BorgOvermindIf they would invest much more into mass production there would be less $ for innovation, which in the long term is bad.
I don't think this is how things work ! More production capacity means more income therefore more potential budget for innovation , TSMC is barely keeping up with the demand right now and demand will only grow stronger with upcoming next gen consoles etc , so it will be foolish to not increase the production capacity and let all that money go ( they already lost Nvidia ! ) . This should have 0 impact on innovation budget , quite the opposite this should be beneficial in the long term .
Posted on Reply
#20
BorgOvermind
I'm not saying they should not increase production. I'm saying they must not start to ignore innovations and do budget cuts on that area.
Posted on Reply
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