Rumor has it that Apple’s supplier TSMC could move to a 5-nanometer process for its chip manufacturing on 2020 iPhones (via AppleInsider).
5Nm
The manufacturing change is said to be influenced by demands for 5G smartphones. CEO C.C. Wei told investors on Thursday that the company is a bit more aggressive on its move to a 5-nanometer process and that its on track to produce them by the first half of 2020.
Current generation A12 Bionic chips are made on a 7-nanometer process. 2019 iPhones are expected to stay on this process with the A13 chip. So the 5-nanometer chips would start with A14.
TSMC has already provided its design infrastructure for creating 5-nanometer process chips to clients, and since Apple is a major customer of the chip foundry, it is likely to be among the first to take advantage of the technology when it is ready for production, possibly in the “A14” chip.
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