undefined | Better HN

0 pointscrote2y ago0 comments

3nm has already hit mass production. Considering this fab won't be ready for at least another two years, 2nm will have hit mass production already.

22nm dates back to 2012, and TSMC has been doing 14nm FinFET mass production since 2014. So yeah, a decade behind cutting-edge can indeed be called "old" when the entire point of the Chips Act was to catch up with Asia and become a center for innovation.

0 comments

arcticbull2y ago

Considering the sheer magnitude of the cost of building out a bleeding edge fab, wouldn't it make sense to start with a somewhat older (but still incredibly useful) process node, develop domain expertise and then iterate? Going from 0 to 2nm is sure to yield little more than a boondoggle. Catching up is going to be a decade long process - if not longer. But you do have to start somewhere.

Plus, the only vendor of EUV lithography machines is likely 100% committed for the foreseeable future. DUV machines are much easier to get - you can go to ASML, Nikon, Canon and I assume a few others - while you find some space on the EUV order books.

croteOP2y ago

They are not coming from zero. This joint venture is 70% TSMC, so it is essentially guaranteed that they are basically just going to copy/paste an existing TSMC fab. There is not going to be any "catching up" when the company you want to catch up with it literally yourself.

Besides, there are already plenty of fabs in Europe at these nodes at companies like GlobalFoundries. Getting another one isn't going to be very useful in trying to catch up, especially when it is one from just before a huge paradigm shift. It's not going to teach them anything about EUV, so they would be trying to catch up from 7-8 nodes behind without even using the technology needed to reach the cutting-edge.

RF_Savage2y ago

3nm is not usable for many automotive things.

It just cannot take the voltages involved and fabbing switching regulators or CAN bus transceivers on a 3nm process would be a waste. Especially when a cheaper and higher voltage capable 180nm or 300nm process is available.

Right tool (and process) for the right job.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse