TSMC to start mass production of ten-nanometer chips by year-end

TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited), a company that works with Apple and that has designed the A10 Fusion chip that powers the iPhone 7, has confirmed the mass production of ten nanometer chips for its customers to start at the end of the year, outperforming Intel in terms of high-performance silicon devices.

Intel will begin production of the ten-nanometer chips in the second half of 2017.

Speaking at a technology symposium in the northern Taiwanese city of Hsinchu, TSMC CEO Marcos Liu said that his company recently started, with its research and development (R&D) plan, to work on cutting-edge technology to create a five-gauge chip.

The semiconductor foundry will also commence with trial production of the seven-nanometer chips in small quantities in the first quarter of 2017. Work on the five-nanometer chips recently started and was have assigned some 300 to 400 engineers to develop a three-nanometer technology.

In addition, TSMC is currently investigating a two nanometer process.

TSMC's R&D budget increased substantially from $ 690 million in 2009 to $ 2,1 billion in 2015. For the full year of 2016, a budget of $ 10 billion was allocated for expenses of capital.

TSMC built the A9 chip together with Samsung and is exclusively producing the latest A10 Fusion chip for the iPhone 7 in its 16 nanometer process. The company is also rumored to have landed a contract to build the A11 chips in 2017. for the new generation of iPhone.

It is also believed that Apple may begin to replace the Intel chips in its MacBooks with TSMC technology in the coming years, in a gradual way as it has been doing with the iPhone and iPad.