TSMC shows off new tech for stitching together bigger, faster chips

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) on Wednesday unveiled technology for making faster chips and putting them together in dinner-plate-sized packages that will boost performance needed for artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

Advertisement

It said its A14 manufacturing technology would arrive in 2028 and would be able to produce processors that are 15 per cent faster at the same power consumption as its N2 chips scheduled to enter production this year, or would use 30 per cent less power at the same speed as the N2 chips.

The world’s biggest contract manufacturer, which counts Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices as clients, said its forthcoming “System on Wafer-X” would be able to weave together at least 16 large computing chips, as well as memory chips and fast optical interconnections and new technology, to deliver thousands of watts of power to the chips.

By comparison, Nvidia’s current flagship graphics processing units (GPUs) consist of two large chips stitched together, and its “Rubin Ultra” GPUs due out in 2027 will stitch four together.

TSMC’s sprawling plant in northwest Phoenix, Arizona. Photo: Matt Haldane
TSMC’s sprawling plant in northwest Phoenix, Arizona. Photo: Matt Haldane

TSMC said it planned to build two factories to carry out the work near its chip plants in Arizona, with plans for a total of six chip factories, two packaging factories and a research and development centre at the site.

Advertisement

  

Read More

Leave a Reply