Latest news with #SuperPowerRail
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
TSMC Is Targeting 2028 for Its A14 1.4nm Process
Hoo boy. Things are about to get tricky when talking about chip technologies. That's because TSMC finally made good on its promise to change its name structure for sub-2nm chips to one Apple already uses for its own processors. TSMC is going from its N naming convention—as in, N2, its 2nm process—to A for chips smaller than 2nm. The first of these will be A16 and A14, the latter of which TSMC just highlighted at the North America Technology Symposium. That's the upcoming 1.4nm process, which is not to be confused with Apple's A14 Bionic SoC. (Apple's chip appears in some older iPhones and is not made with a sub-nm process.) Perhaps worse is that Intel also uses the A naming structure—and for the same reason TSMC adopted it. The A in Intel's highly anticipated new A18, 1.8nm-class process stands for Angstrom, a unit of measurement suited to the ever-shrinking die processes. TSMC says that the A14 process will be a vast improvement compared with the N2 process. A14 offers as much as 15% faster speed than N2. And to top it off, A14 uses significantly less power, up to 30% less, than N2. TSMC plans to make chips for automotive, IoT, and smartphone uses, and will support N4C RF in N2 chips. And, of course, TSMC expects N2 to be picked up in large quantities for AI use. The company will have 9.5 reticle size Chip on Wafer on Substrate (CoWoS) tech, supporting 12+ HBM stacks, by 2027. TSMC Fab 21. Credit: TSMC 'TSMC's cutting-edge logic technologies like A14 are part of a comprehensive suite of solutions that connect the physical and digital worlds to unleash our customers' innovation for advancing the AI future,' TSMC CEO Dr. C.C. Wei said in a statement. Don't expect to see A14 chips for a few years, though, with N2 hitting its stride and A16s on target for mass production in 2026. Chips based on the A16 process (not to be confused with Apple's 4nm A16 SoCs, also likely made in Arizona) will most likely reach the data center market in early 2027. The A16 process will be TSMC's first to include backside power delivery, also known as Super Power Rail, which allows for better performance and energy efficiency. It seems likely that TSMC will make at least some of its A14 wafers in the US, given that it already plans to make Fab 21 (its Arizona campus) sub-2nm capable in the coming years.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Taiwan's government strengthens 'silicon shield,' restricts exports of TSMC's most advanced process technologies
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Taiwan plans to tighten control over exports of advanced process technologies as well as outbound semiconductor investments, reports Economic Daily. The new legal measures will enforce the 'N-1' technology restriction, essentially barring TSMC from exporting its latest production nodes, and introduce penalties for violations— but there's a major catch for TSMC. The 'N-1' policy, confirmed by Premier Cho Jung-tai, will apply to TSMC's planned production in the United States. This approach restricts export of the most advanced process technology, allowing only one generation older to be deployed abroad. Before this amendment, Taiwan's regulations did not explicitly require such controls for semiconductor manufacturing processes. These rules are based on Article 22 of the amended Industrial Innovation Act, which is expected to take effect by the end of 2025. There is a major catch about TSMC's most advanced process technology, though. Today, TSMC has one leading-edge node: N3P manufacturing technology. But by the end of the year, it will start producing chips on its N2 fabrication process, which will become its flagship. Starting from late 2026 and onwards, however, TSMC expects to have two flagship nodes: N2P for client applications that do not need advanced power delivery and A16 with Super Power Rail backside power delivery for HPC applications that consume a lot of power. It remains to be seen which process technology will be considered as 'flagship' by Taiwanese authorities, and therefore export restricted, or if the government will ban exports of both nodes for a year when TSMC introduces successors for N2P and A16, its A14 and A16P nodes. In addition, the amended law, passed after its third reading in the Taiwan parliament, gives Taiwan's authorities the right to reject or cancel overseas investments if they are found to compromise national security, damage the country's economic development, violate treaty obligations, or result in unresolved major labor disputes. Under the new law, these six conditions are retained, but are now backed by higher-level legislation. The revised Article 22 also includes the possibility of partially or fully rejecting investments or attaching conditions to approval. If a company receives approval but later triggers any of these risks, the central authorities are authorized to demand corrective action or revoke the investment entirely if the issue is serious. The new law elevates existing investment restrictions from sub-regulations to formal legislation and adds legal consequences for non-compliance. The Ministry of Economic Affairs stated that the law's implementation date will be announced only after the sub-regulations are revised, within six months. This means the earliest enforcement could begin by late 2025. The regulation's rollout comes amid rising geopolitical risks and after TSMC announced plans to increase its investments in its American production capacity from $65 billion over four years to $165 billion over an undisclosed period. The amendment also introduces penalties that were not present before. Companies that invest abroad without prior approval may face fines ranging from NT$50,000 to NT$1 million ($30,830). If an investment is approved but the company later fails to correct identified violations — such as endangering national security or harming economic development—the authorities can impose repeated fines of NT$500,000 ($15,414) to NT$10 million ($308,286). But given that TSMC plans to invest $165 billion in its U.S. facilities, a $300,000 fine will hardly affect the company's bottom Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
