DIGITIMES Pointed Out In A Report: In The Process Of Turning To The Next Generation 3nm Process Node Of TSM. Us, AMD, Which Was Preempted By Two Major Customers, Apple (AAPL. US) And Intel (INTC. US), May Be Forced To Postpone The Release Of Zen 5 CPU To 2024-2025. The Next Generation Of TSMC Has Been "smashed" By Intel's VIP Customers.
Meanwhile, amd, NVIDIA, MediaTek And Other Customers Are Also Expected To Use The 3nm Process, But Production Is Not Expected To Start Until The Second Half Of 2023. It Means That The Next Generation Of Products Based On This Process Will Be Postponed To 2024 Or 2025.
However, At Present, We Are Unable To Determine Whether AMD Will Select 3nm Process Nodes For Its Zen 5 Product Line. As For Zen 4, It Is Known That It Will Be Based On TSMC 5nm Process, And NVIDIA Is The Next Generation Game GPU (4N Process).
Referring To This New Report, AMD Will Have Three Options. One Is To Wait Until 2024 - 2025 To Produce Zen 5 Processor. Given That Zen 3 Was Launched In The Second Half Of 2020 And Replaced In The Second Half Of 2022, It Means That The Company Can Maintain A Two-year Release Rhythm.
Based On This, AMD Is Most Likely To Postpone The Release Of Zen 5 CPU Until The End Of 2024 / The Beginning Of 2025. Of Course, Amd Has Two Other Backup Options, Such As Adopting The Optimized Version Of N5 Node (n5p Process) For Zen 5 Architecture.
Compared With The 4N Process Selected By Green Plant, N5p Still Has Certain Advantages. However, Since Zen 5 Itself Is A Major Architecture Upgrade And Lacks The Support Of The Latest N3 Process Nodes, Its Significance Will Be Greatly Reduced.
The Most Unlikely Scenario Is That AMD, Which Failed In The Negotiation With TSMC, Will Be Stronger Than N3 When Two VIP Customers Seize The Dominant Capacity - But This Will Lead To Serious Restrictions On Initial Supply, Resulting In Significantly Lower Than Expected Shipments In 2024.
To Sum Up, Amd May Compete With Intel's Midrange Game CPU Family Through The Zen 4 Product Line With 3D V-cache In The Empty Window Of One Year Before The Launch Of Zen 5.
In Other Words, Zen 4, Which Began To Appear In 2022, Will Usher In A V-cache Derivative Model In 2023 Until Amd Releases Zen 5 In The Second Half Of 2024. As For The Truth, It Still Needs Time To Test.
It Is Reported That The First Customers Of TSMC 3nm And 2nm Processes Include Apple And Intel
According To Foreign Media Reports, According To The Plan, TSMC's 3nm Process Will Be Mass Produced In The Second Half Of This Year, And The More Advanced 2nm Process Is Also Promoted As Scheduled. It Is Planned To Be Mass Produced In 2025.
For TSMC's 3nm Process And 2nm Process, It Is Reported From The Industrial Chain That The First Batch Of Customers Are Apple And Intel. TSMC Will Further Consolidate Their Leading Position In The Field Of Advanced Wafer Foundry.
Apple Has Been A Major Customer Of TSMC For Many Years. Since The A10 Processor In 2016, The A-Series Processor Developed By Apple Has Been Exclusively OEM By TSMC. The Subsequent M-series Chips Are Also OEM By TSMC Using The Latest Process Technology. Apple Is Also The Main Customer Of TSMC's 5nm And 4nm Process Technology.
In Terms Of 3nm Process, It Was Initially Reported That TSMC Has Prepared Four Waves Of Production Capacity, And The Major Customers In The First Wave Of Production Capacity Will Be Left To Apple. However, At That Time, The CEO Of Intel Was Robert Swan, And They Had Not Announced That They Were Considering Outsourcing Some Chips To Other Manufacturers.
Intel Revealed That They Were Considering Outsourcing Some Chips At The Conference Call Of Financial Analysts In The Second Quarter Of 2020. Robert Swan, The Then CEO, Said At That Time That If They Need To Use The Process Technology Of Other Manufacturers, They Call It Emergency Plan, And They Are Also Prepared To Do So. If They Adopt The Process Technology Of Other Manufacturers, They Will Have More Choices And Be More Flexible. When The Process Is Backward, They Can Try Other Choices Instead Of Making Them All By Themselves.
At The End Of Last Year, It Was Reported That The First Wave Of Capacity Of TSMC's 3nm Process Would Be Shared Equally By Apple And Intel. At This Time, Pat Kissinger, The New CEO Of Intel, Has Been In Office For More Than Half A Year.
In Seeking The OEM Of TSMC's 3nm Process, It Was Reported That During Pat Kissinger's Trip To Asia In Early December Last Year, He Visited TSMC And Held A Closed Door Meeting With TSMC's Executives To Discuss The OEM Of 3nm Process, But The Result Was Not As Expected By Intel. Earlier This Month, It Was Also Reported That Pat Kissinger Visited TSMC Again To Seek OEM Capacity Support, Including Advanced Manufacturing Processes Of 7Nm And Below, As Well As Mature Processes Such As 28nm.