New MacBook Pro expected before end of 2022 with 5nm chips

M2 Chipset

Apple's upcoming 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models are set to be mass produced in the fourth quarter of 2022 with M2 chips possibly made using a 5nm process, according to Ming-Chi Kuo.

In a tweet on Monday, Kuo said that the upcoming 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro will enter mass production in Q4 2022. However, he cast doubt on rumors that the devices could sport chips built on TSMC's 3nm processes.

According to Kuo, TSMC has offered guidance that its 3nm process will contribute to its revenue in the first half of 2023. Although Apple is likely to be one of the first companies to get its hands on chips with the new process, Kuo take's TSMC's guidance as evidence that it won't be in 2022.

In other words, the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro chips, which will likely be M2 Pro and M2 Max, will be created using TSMC's existing 5nm advanced nodes.

Kuo's forecast here differs from other sources, including a report from the Taiwanese-based Commercial Times that indicated Apple would be using 3nm-based chips by the end of 2022.

According to the Commercial Times, TSMC's mass production of 3nm-based wafers will kick off in September. Given that Kuo expects MacBook Pro models to enter mass production in the fourth quarter, there's still a chance that the new models could use TSMC's latest technology.

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.

29 Comments

ppietra said:

Then who would be TSMC’s client in the first half of 2023???? Intel has already been ruled out because it delayed its chips from TSMC.
It’s not like Apple developed a M2 Max for the MacBooks and created another M2 Max for the desktops.

I can't imagine that Apple would pass up volume production at the 3nm node, merely to block competitors from 3nm as long as possible.

At the same time, I can't imagine that Apple would throw down volume SOC production for the Mac Pro or iMac Pro production on 3nm.

But if they did, it would be epic!

So it looks like 3nm is targeted for iPad Pro, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro updates, and later in the year, iPhone 15.

fastasleep

said about 1 year ago

8thman said:

Finally! Can’t wait for 14”

“Finally”? The existing 14” has been out for like 9 months.

tht

said about 1 year ago

JP234 said:

Do we have an alternate source for these chips? Looks like our congressmen have decided to provoke China over Taiwan. Does Apple (or any US manufacturer) really want to rely solely on China to supply critical semis? And trust them not to engineer some "special sauce" into them?

Don’t know where to start with your train of questions.

Your questions seem to understand that Taiwan is not China, yet you still conflate TSMC as being Chinese. TSMC is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. It’s Taiwanese with most of its fabs in Taiwan. TSMC has satellite fabs in both China and the USA. You should not conflate the two.

Semiconductor manufacturing is a global enterprise. One of the key components is actually a Dutch company who makes the photolithography machines that go into the fabs. Japanese, Korean and Chinese companies, also multinationals, make the modules that the chips are put in. Then, the materials and sub-components come from all over the world too.

These are global multi-national companies. They are diversified and continually diversifying. They don’t do it as fast as the speed of politics perhaps, but they will do what they need to do to stay in business.

TSMC’s fabs are the most advanced fabs in the world. There isn’t a competitor. The nearest “competitor” is Samsung, and if Apple used their fabs, they would have slower and hotter chips. Apple has had a decadal and symbiotic relationship with them. It’s basically because of Apple that TSMC, and their own discipline and decision making, has the most advanced fabs. If Apple is to have TSMC diversify, it will be to get them to have more fabs elsewhere in the world, not primarily in Taiwan.

Lastly, there isn’t any special sauce. It’s plain old boring physics and economics. They take silicon and etch CMOS circuits onto them. Every stage from the silicon itself to the software that runs on them is validated at every stage. You don’t do anything by surprise as it could result in business destroying consequences. Apple, and every TSMC customer, knows precisely what happens to their chips.