TSMC says that 10 nm-process is "totally on track"
"It is not true!", says TSMC, countering reports, that yields of their advanced 10 nm process are below expectation, an assessment that was started by Taiwanese news media Digitimes a few days ago and led to rumors that Apple might run into delays with the A10X chips for their next generation of iPads, that are expected in early 2017. Samsung was also mentioned as having yield problems with their 10 nm process, causing delays for the Snapdragon 835 mobile processor.
Samsung has not released a statement yet but TSMC stepped forward and said that the 10 nm process is "totally on track" and will contribute to the sales revenue in the first quarter of 2017 by less than 1 percent of the total revenue. Looking further into the future, TSMC said, that the 7 nm process will ramp up in late 2017 with 5 nm following in 2019 and 3 nm in 2022.
Intel, Samsung and TSMC have been in a head to head race with their 10 nm process-technology this year. Samsung and Qualcomm announced their first 10 nm SOC, the Snapdragon 835 in November, Intel has already started producing ARM chips for customers like LG and TSMC was able to secure an exclusive contract with Apple to manufacture their next two 10 nm mobile chips for iPads and iPhones, the A10X and the A11.
Quelle(n)
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1331059
Image: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
