TSMC To Begin Mass Production of 2-nanometer Chips By 2025 At Hsinchu Fab, To Get ASML's Advanced High-NA EUV Chipmaking Tool By 2024

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker, announced that it will begin volume production of 2-nanometer chips by 2025 as the chip behemoth plans to beat competitors to be the first to deploy the advanced technology.

The 2nm process chips will feature a new technology called "nanosheet transistor architecture" for better performance and power efficiency.

"TSMC's N2 technology represents another remarkable advancement over N3, with 10- 15% speed improvement at the same power, or 25-30% power reduction at the same speed, ushering in a new era of Efficient Performance." the company said in a statement.

The 2nm technology platform includes a high-performance variant in addition to the mobile compute baseline version, as well as a chiplet integration solutions.

On Thursday (Jun 16), the company showcased the newest innovations in its advanced logic, speciality, and 3D IC technologies at its 2022 North America Technology Symposium.

"We are living in a rapidly changing, supercharged, digital world where demand for computational power and energy efficiency is growing faster than ever before, creating unprecedented opportunities and challenges for the semiconductor industry," said TSMC CEO C.C. Wei said during the event.

The chipmaker, which launched the 5nm process in 2020, is scheduled to start commercial production of the 3nm process later this year at its fav Tainan.

As for its 2nm-process fabs, TSMC has said it will build a wafer plant in northern Taiwan's Hsinchu and later expand production to Taichung in central Taiwan.

Resuming as an in-person event after being held online in the past two years, the North America symposium in Santa Clara, California, kicks off a series of Technology Symposiums around the world in the coming months.

TSMC to get advanced chipmaking tool from ASML in 2024

TSMC executives also confirmed that it would obtain the next version of Dutch chip tool manufacturer ASML's most advanced chipmaking tool in 2024.

ASML has been developing its high-numerical-aperture (high-NA) EUV lithography line for some time. Lithography equipment is used to pattern tiny features on chips, enabling chipmakers to build smaller and faster devices at advanced nodes and to pack more features into a single die or package.

The "high-NA EUV" tool produces beams of focused light that create the microscopic circuitry on computer chips used in phones, laptops, vehicles and artificial intelligence devices, such as smart speakers.

EUV stands for extreme ultraviolet, the wavelength of light used by ASML's most advanced machines.

According to a few estimates, a high-NA scanner is expected to cost $318.6 million, compared to $153.4 million for today's EUV systems.