If a few days ago we talked about not seeing the 3 nm in next year’s chips, now new information published by The Information affirms that it will be just the following year, in 2023, when we will see the jump. A leap that, thanks to this more optimized manufacturing process, will bring great improvements to Apple silicon chips.
Doubling and quadrupling the number of chips
Using a lower nanometer manufacturing process allows increase the number of transistors on the same chip size. This translates into a significant increase in speed, performance and a considerable reduction in consumption and heat produced. The M1, M1 Pro and M1 Max are all manufactured in a 5nm process.
We expected Apple, together with TSMC, to make the leap to an improved 5nm process in the next year, although the difficulties caused by the component shortages can play a crucial role in these plans. In parallel, we expect Apple to make the leap to the 3nm process as early as 2023.
According to The Information, TSMC would be ready to manufacture both Mac and iPhone chips with this technology sometime in 2023. In the Mac this would allow the use of two arrays, which could include up to 40 CPU cores on a single chip. Apparently they are already working on what we could baptize as M2, M2 Pro and M2 Max, which would carry the code names of “Ibiza”, “Lobos” and “Palma”.
These 40 cores, using two matrices, bring us closer to the processors that we hope to see in future Mac Pro with Apple silicon. A computer that, simply put, I would have two M1 Max. A trend that could go further, as Mark Gurman spoke to us a few months ago about the possibility of using four matrices in the chips.
For now we will have to wait to see how Apple’s plans take shape. What we can be sure of is that, at one point or another, we will end up seeing really impressive processors from Apple silicon.
Image | Laura ockel