TSMC's 2nm process to be unprecedentedly costly as $30,000+ per wafer figure floated

The next big thing for TSMC is its upcoming N2 manufacturing process. While it's still in the works as of early October, a Commercial Times article sheds light on how much it may cost to manufacture chips using this undoubtedly advanced technology.

According to the source, a single 300-mm wafer built using the N2 technology will cost more than $30,000. This is a whopping amount especially when compared to previous processes.

To put things into perspective, a wafer built with N3 (often referred to as a 3nm process) costs around $18,500. Previous technologies such as the N4 and N5 are even less costly at approximately $15,000 per wafer. This makes the costs of employing the upcoming N2 technology almost double that of N4/N5.

The higher costs may be justified to a large extent by the numerous benefits the new technology is expected to bring to the table. According to Tom's Hardware, the new 2nm process will shine in the efficiency department with over 25% lower energy consumption compared to N3E.

It is worth noting that the numbers are not coming from TSMC and hence should be taken with a pinch of salt. The pricing will also vary according to many factors such as order volume, customer requirements and more.

Apple is very likely to be among the first adopters of N2. We're talking M5 series chips for iPads, Mac minis, iMacs and MacBooks as well as the next A-series chips for iPhones here. Qualcomm, Intel, AMD, Mediatek and Nvidia may or may not join the party at a slightly later date.