Intel was the first to officially mention the 1.4nm process. It was in May 2019, that is, before the renaming (10nm+++ → 7nm; 7nm → 4nm; 7nm+ → 3nm; 5nm → 20A, etc.). The 1.4nm process was then painted for 2029. It is not known what Intel calls it now, since it has preferred not to mention it since 2019.
In the fall of 2022, Samsung mentioned its 1.4 nm process. The so-called SF1.4 is planned for 2027. TSMC has not officially mentioned its 1.4nm process so far, but little is known about it. It has confirmed the start of construction of the factory in Longtan Science Park near Hsinchu, Taiwan, in 2026. According to the Taiwanese media, this factory is to be used for production on the 1.4nm process, and from the date of the planned start of construction, it is assumed that production could start in 2027 -2028.
The first official mention of TSMC’s 1.4nm process came only now, at IEDM 2023, which hosted a meeting called Revisiting the Future of Logic, during which TSMC’s Geoffrey Yeap also spoke, and prepared a humorously designed slide:
(Dylan Patel)
In short, it came out of the presentation from 2019, where he only crossed out outdated data and replaced it with current ones. He mentioned large-scale production on the 2nm process in 2025 (not new information, rather confirmation that everything is going according to the plan presented 14 months ago) and mentioned the ongoing development of the 1.4nm (A14) process. Despite TSMC being the last to mention the 1.4nm process from the semiconductor holy trinity, it wouldn’t be surprising if they were the first to get real products to market, but 4-5 years is an incredibly long time in the semiconductor industry and a lot can change in that time .
Finally, he “subtly” hinted that the driving force in all segments of the development of advanced logic is becoming AI, which has infected IT from the mobile segment to data centers to the automotive industry.
If we assume that TSMC will start large-scale 2nm production for Apple in 2025, then the first deployment of this process in the x86 segment can be expected in the most optimistic scenario in 2026 and quite possibly until 2027 (which is also the most likely time of mass deployment in this segment). The 1.4nm process could appear in Apple products in 2027-2028, which means the first deployment of the process in x86 at the earliest 2028-2029. A later deployment is even more likely, as Apple will not have any other process to switch to, so the 1.4nm lines will probably remain occupied for a long time.
2023-12-19 09:02:42
#TSMC #mentions #1.4nm #process #2nm #big #launch #sees
