Nvidia (NVDA) has become the almost undisputed poster child of the AI boom — and now it’s time to show the receipts.
Category: tsmc
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7 countries Apple relies on to make iPhones
President Trump took a shot at Apple’s CEO Tim Cook for moving much of the production of the iconic iPhone from China to India to evade tariffs. But experts paint a more complicated picture. While the iPhones may be assembled largely in China or India, the components of an iPhone represent a veritable Olympic village…
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Your future smartphone just got a major performance and battery boost
TSMC is making major strides toward its next-generation 2nm process node and industry demand is already exceeding expectations. Although mass production isn’t slated to begin until late 2025, a report from Taiwanese outlet Ctee reveals that chipmakers like Apple, Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Broadcom are already lining up for early access, signaling just how crucial this technology will be to future devices.
Rumors suggest that Apple has plans to adopt 2nm chips for its iPhone 18 lineup in 2026, while Nvidia is approaching the transition more conservatively as its next-gen platform is expected to remain on the 3nm node.
What makes the 2nm node unique is the use of Gate-All-Around (GAA) transistor architecture, a departure from the FinFET design that has been the industry standard for multiple chip generations. GAA is said to offer better control of current flow and leakages which results in 15% higher performance and 30% lower power consumption.
The company has reportedly entered trial production for its 2nm process at its fabrication plant in Baoshan, Hsinchu, with mass production set for Q4 2025 and an initial monthly output of 30,000 wafers. Another fabrication facility in Kaohsiung is expected to start mass production in Q1 2026 with the same monthly capacity. By 2027, TSMC plans to ramp total 2nm output across its two sites to 120,000–130,000 wafers per month, potentially reaching 50,000 by end of 2025 and 80,000 if scaling progresses smoothly.
TSMC is also accelerating expansion at four fabs in Baoshan and three in Nanzi, Kaohsiung, with an investment of over NT$1.5 trillion (approximately USD 50 billion) to build the world’s largest semiconductor hub. While in the U.S., TSMC’s facility in Arizona will introduce 2nm and future 1.6nm (A16) processes by 2028.
The strong early demand suggests that 2nm chips could dominate premium-tier devices starting in late 2025 and beyond. While it may take time for the technology to filter into mid-range products, consumers can expect major gains in performance and efficiency from devices powered by 2nm silicon.
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Intel is making massive cuts to its workforce
Intel (INTC) Corp. will announce a purge of 20% of its staff as it aims to pare back bureaucracy within the company, according to a new report. That would amount to about 21,0000 jobs being eliminated.
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Trump can’t keep China from getting AI chips, TSMC suggests
As the global artificial intelligence (AI) race presses on amid a US-China trade war, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)—a $514 billion titan that manufactures most of the world’s AI chips—is warning that it may not be possible to keep its customers’ most advanced technology out of China’s hands.
US export controls require chipmakers to monitor shipments and know their customers to restrict China’s access to AI chips. But in a recently published 2024 report, TSMC confirmed that its “role in the semiconductor supply chain inherently limits its visibility and information available to it regarding the downstream use or user of final products that incorporate semiconductors manufactured by it.”
Essentially, TSMC expects that it plays too big a role in the semiconductor industry to stop all the possible unintended end-uses of the semiconductors it manufactures. Similarly, it appears impossible to track all the third parties determined to skirt sanctions. And if TSMC’s hands are truly tied, that ultimately means that the US can’t effectively stop the latest AI tech from trickling into China.
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Netflix, American Express, TSMC: Stocks to watch today
U.S. stock futures were mixed early Thursday as investors processed another volatile session driven by escalating U.S.-China trade tensions and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s stark remarks on the inflationary risks of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
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Trump threatens to spike chipmakers’ costs by billions as China mulls exemptions
The semiconductor industry is bracing to potentially lose more than $1 billion once Donald Trump announces chip tariffs.
Two sources familiar with discussions between chipmakers and lawmakers last week told Reuters that Applied Materials, Lam Research, and KLA—three of the largest US chip equipment makers—could each lose about “$350 million over a year related to the tariffs.” That adds up to likely more than $1 billion in losses between the three, and smaller firms will likely face similarly spiked costs, estimating losses in the tens of millions.
Some chipmakers are already feeling the pain of Trump’s trade war, despite a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs and a tenuous exception for semiconductors and other electronics.
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Nvidia’s next-gen GPUs could get a major design change, here’s why that’s good news
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is reportedly working with Nvidia to develop next-generation GPUs utilizing advanced chiplet technology. This collaboration is expected to play an important role in Nvidia’s upcoming “Rubin” architecture, which is rumored to be the successor to the current Blackwell generation.
The shift toward a chiplet-based design marks a notable departure from traditional monolithic GPU structures, offering improved performance, scalability, and cost efficiency. Chiplet technology enables manufacturers to assemble multiple smaller semiconductor dies into a single package, allowing for better yields and reducing production costs.
This approach has become increasingly popular in the semiconductor industry, particularly as chip designs become more complex and traditional scaling methods face limitations. By leveraging TSMC’s manufacturing processes, Nvidia could potentially enhance the power efficiency and processing capabilities of its future GPUs, making them well-suited for AI, data centers, and high-performance computing.
It is rumored that Nvidia’s Rubin GPUs will be produced using TSMC’s advanced N3P process node. The N3P process is an optimized version of TSMC’s 3nm technology, delivering improved performance, power efficiency, and transistor density compared to its predecessors. This node is designed to maximize the benefits of chiplet-based architectures, which could allow Nvidia to push the limits of GPU performance while maintaining energy efficiency.
To further optimize the performance of its chiplet-based GPUs, Nvidia will also leverage TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including SoIC (System-on-Integrated Chip). This technology enables the vertical stacking of chips, enhancing power efficiency and reducing latency between different chiplets within the GPU. AMD has been using the same design for its 3D V-Cache CPUs for years.
TSMC is expected to ramp up its production with plans to significantly expand its SoIC capacity by the end of 2025. As per Wccftech, Nvidia’s upcoming Rubin lineup is expected to utilize an SoIC design, leveraging the capabilities of HBM4 memory. The Vera Rubin NVL144 platform is rumored to feature a Rubin GPU with two reticle-sized dies, delivering up to 50 PFLOPs of FP4 performance and 288 GB of next-generation HBM4 memory. Meanwhile, the higher-end NVL576 model is anticipated to incorporate a Rubin Ultra GPU with four reticle-sized dies, pushing performance to 100 PFLOPs of FP4 and housing 1TB of HBM4e memory spread across 16 HBM stacks.
Nvidia’s adoption of chiplet technology follows a broader industry trend where leading semiconductor companies, including AMD and Intel, have already integrated similar designs into their processors. The modular nature of chiplets allows manufacturers to mix and match different processing units, optimizing performance for specific workloads. With AI and high-performance computing driving the demand for more powerful hardware, the partnership between TSMC and Nvidia is expected to yield breakthrough advancements in GPU design.
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Hyundai will invest $21 billion in the U.S. to boost its supply chain and avoid Trump’s tariffs
Hyundai Motor Group (HYMTF), the South Korean conglomerate that also owns the Kia and Genesis brands, announced a $21 billion new investment in the U.S. in a bid to dodge new tariffs and strengthen its supply chain.