According to several Taiwanese sources cited by TechPowerUp, TSMC’s 3nm chip lines are approaching 50% utilization. The key customer for these products is undoubtedly Apple, for which TSMC processes about 50,000-55,000 silicon wafers per month for chip production.
Image Source: TSMC
Sources also say that TSMC is preparing to begin production of chips this year based on the N3E process, an improved version of the 3nm process technology. Some of the company’s customers are already anticipating the possibility of switching to this process technology.
At the same time, Taiwanese publications indicate that the chip maker is not doing as well as it might seem at first glance. For example, the company is seeing a reduction in the load on its 7nm, 6nm, 5nm and 4nm chip lines. Demand for chips based on these technologies has dropped significantly. According to some sources, the load on the lines for the production of the same 7- and 6-nm chips fell to almost 50%, according to others – up to 70%. In turn, the workload of the production of microcircuits according to the standards of 5- and 4-nm is about 80%.
Analysts predict that this is only a temporary decline, in the second half of the year the demand for chips in the market will increase and the workload of the production of TSMC’s most advanced technical processes will approach about 90%. On the other hand, experts say, everything will depend on the demand for end products produced by customers of the Taiwanese contract chip manufacturer. At the moment they are seeing a drop in demand for their products.
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