Mike Peterson
Apple's 2022 MacBook Pros may pack new M2 Pro and M2 Max chipsets made with TSMC's latest 3nm manufacturing process, according to a new report.
TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor contract manufacturer, has been steadily building out its 3nm production processes. According to the Commercial Times, Apple could be the first customer to get its hands on those chips.
The report notes that Apple will use 3nm wafers for the first time in the second half of 2022, likely for its M2 Pro chipsets. Future releases built on the 3nm process could include the iPhone-specific A17 chipset, as well as a future third-generation of the M series.
Commercial Times also separately reported that TSMC will begin mass production of its 3nm wafers in September. The report adds that initial yield will be higher than when TSMC switched to 5nm processes.
Compared to previous chipmaking processes, semiconductors made using the 3nm process could bring increased power efficiency and performance to Apple's devices.
Prior reports indicate that Apple will use the M2 Pro chip — and possibly an M2 Max — in its 14-inch MacBook Pro, 16-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini models later in 2022 or early 2023.
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9 Comments
Because sales volume for the Mac is so much lower than the iPhone, it’s much easier to transition the Mac to a new process. This is win-win-win for TSMC-Apple-Mac users.
3nm is not a wafer. It is a process. TSMC is able to ramp up its process technology to firmly keep Apple in its camp as well as numerous other chip design companies.
Hopefully it is true. If they are starting mass production of the 3nm wafers, it's not going to be in a product for another 3 to 4 months at the earliest.
So, Apple would be lucky to have M2 Pro and M2 Max packages available in Macbook Pro updates by late December. Like Dec 20 availability, just a trickle of laptops before the holidays.
Still a mystery why they didn't put an M1 Pro in the Mac mini and iMac 24 last March or so. Would have given those products a solid year of sales before being updated to a M2 Pro.
Out of curiosity I checked the Motorola 68000 processor that was in my first Mac. It used a 3.5micrometer (3500nm) process. We’ve literally lived through a thousandfold reduction in size. It also had 68,000 transistors. A far cry from the 20billion on the M2 and who knows how many on these 3nm versions.
This is a major leap forward but I doubt Apple is jumping to M2 3 nm. The 3 nm MacBook Pro won’t see any deliveries in 2022 and Apple must get back to launch product that can ship. 3 nm that won’t ship will kill end of year sales. If Apple does a 5 nm M2 Pro+Max then it will be short lived, and the benefits compared to M1 are likely minimal due to being 5 nm. This could indicate that MBP will skip M2 for a proper M3 3 nm update in Q1 2023.