IBM Claims “World First” Title With Production Of 2nm Chips

IBM may have beaten the crowd today after claims that it has developed the world’s first 2nm chips. To state the obvious, the new chip is made with some relatively groundbreaking technology that won’t be found on the current 7nm process nodes.

IBM’s 2nm chip features exceptionally thin wiring – thinner and smaller than the width of a single strand of human DNA. To put in Axios’ words: the chip can also be fitted with up to 50 billion transistors in an area around the size of a fingernail.

While there are no official data and performance metrics of the chip yet, IBM says that its new chip could boast an improved performance of 45% over current 7nm offerings with the same power. Alternatively, the same chip could also be altered and tweaked, so that it may consume up to 75% less energy, but still maintain the same performance level as a 7nm.

While IBM may have taken the championship belt within the semiconductor industry, it is fair to say that that title will be challenged – most likely by TSMC – within a year or two. As for now, the world is still waiting on the arrival of 3nm chips, while the 5nm made its debut with Apple’s latest iPhone 12 series.

IBM Claims “World First” Title With Production Of 2nm Chips

IBM may have beaten the crowd today after claims that it has developed the world’s first 2nm chips. To state the obvious, the new chip is made with some relatively groundbreaking technology that won’t be found on the current 7nm process nodes.

IBM’s 2nm chip features exceptionally thin wiring – thinner and smaller than the width of a single strand of human DNA. To put in Axios’ words: the chip can also be fitted with up to 50 billion transistors in an area around the size of a fingernail.

While there are no official data and performance metrics of the chip yet, IBM says that its new chip could boast an improved performance of 45% over current 7nm offerings with the same power. Alternatively, the same chip could also be altered and tweaked, so that it may consume up to 75% less energy, but still maintain the same performance level as a 7nm.

While IBM may have taken the championship belt within the semiconductor industry, it is fair to say that that title will be challenged – most likely by TSMC – within a year or two. As for now, the world is still waiting on the arrival of 3nm chips, while the 5nm made its debut with Apple’s latest iPhone 12 series.

TSMC 2nm Chips Reportedly Enters Development; 3nm, 4nm Due In 2022

While the chip shortage is expected to rage on till next year, Taiwanese foundry, TSMC, has no intentions of slowing down the development of new and thinner fabrications of its products. To that end, reports suggest that the foundry has already entered development of a 2nm process node.

According to Anandtech, TSMC seems to be developing both 3nm and 2nm at the same time. Unsurprisingly, the Taiwanese foundry isn’t sharing a lot of detail, only that development for the die lithography is progressing nicely under its “advanced CMOS logic”.

As for its 3nm and 4nm process, Anandtech says that both process nodes are still on track with its development, with 4nm expected to enter mass production by early 2022, while the 3nm – part of the company’s N3 roadmap – should enter risk production this year, with mass production expected to begin during the second half of 2022.

TSMC has long dominated the semiconductor market and has virtually cornered half the market, the other half having been bagged by Samsung. Earlier this month, the company also announced that it would spend US$100 billion (~RM410 billion) over the next three years to ramp up its production capacity.