TSMC 4nm Production Hit By... A Full Quarter Advance?
Here's something that has been sorely missing from tech news: good news. It seems that TSMC's development on the 4 nm manufacturing process is running better than anticipated by the company itself, which has prompted for a full quarter advancement for the test production on TSMC's next miniaturization level. Previously scheduled for test production starting on 4Q 2021, TSMC has announced that it has now moved test production to 3Q 2021.
This could mean an equivalent - or perhaps even better - reduction in volume production and time-to-market, but it's anyone's guess at this point. As notably difficult and onerous as semiconductor development is, problems are more likely to appear than not. 4 nm is expected to bring respectable improvements to the PPA equation for semiconductors over 5 nm - however, TSMC still hasn't disclosed expected gains.
This could mean an equivalent - or perhaps even better - reduction in volume production and time-to-market, but it's anyone's guess at this point. As notably difficult and onerous as semiconductor development is, problems are more likely to appear than not. 4 nm is expected to bring respectable improvements to the PPA equation for semiconductors over 5 nm - however, TSMC still hasn't disclosed expected gains.