MediaTek Beats Apple to Announcing 3nm Chips?

[Daniel Nenni]

Apple is always first to a node and they do not announce until the iPhone is in hand. Either Anton Shilov is intentionally misinforming people or he is a complete idiot. Either way his editor should fire him. Unless that is what the publication is all about.

"MediaTek this week announced that it had successfully taped out its first flagship smartphone system-on-chip using TSMC's 3nm-class fabrication process, which technically means it has beaten Apple to the first 3nm SoC. Based on the information disclosed by the SoC developer, we are dealing with an application processor set to be made on TSMC's N3E manufacturing technology, which makes it one of the industry's first chip to use this node."

MediaTek Beats Apple to Announcing 3nm Chips

MediaTek tapes out first 3nm smartphone SoC with TSMC. But what about IFS relationship?.

www.yahoo.com

 

[Brady]

Anton Shilov is a freelance writer who covers semi hardware in a style which gets clicks. Anandtech, Toms Hardware, wherever. It’s often wrong or at its best hyperbolic.

 

[Daniel Nenni]

Anton Shilov is a freelance writer who covers semi hardware in a style which gets clicks. Anandtech, Toms Hardware, wherever. It’s often wrong or at its best hyperbolic.

Agreed. The problem is that others jump on it and it becomes a fact versus rumor. Who believes the media anymore? It is a serious problem but I see no solution.

 

[Fred Chen]

MediaTek didn't help with its post where it said "MediaTek has achieved a technological breakthrough by developing the first chip using TSMC's advanced 3nm process." However, the official press release clarifies that "MediaTek has successfully developed its first chip using TSMC’s leading-edge 3nm technology."

 

[Arthur Hanson]

What does TSM have to say? Since it isn't a secret if it's true, we should be hearing from TSM shortly.

 

[Daniel Nenni]

MediaTek developed ITS first 3nm chip not THE first 3nm chip. Either Anton Shilov did not read this press release or his reading comprehension is not at a professional level. Either way he should be out of a job.

MediaTek Successfully Develops First Chip Using TSMCˈs 3nm Process, Set for Volume Production in 202
Issued by: TSMC
Issued on: 23/09/2023

MediaTek Successfully Develops First Chip Using TSMC's 3nm Process, Set for Volume Production in 2024
Hsinchu, Taiwan, R.O.C., Sep. 7, 2023 – MediaTek and TSMC (TWSE: 2330, NYSE: TSM) today announced that MediaTek has successfully developed its first chip using TSMC’s leading-edge 3nm technology, taping out MediaTek’s flagship Dimensity system-on-chip (SoC) with volume production expected next year. This marks a significant milestone in the long-standing strategic partnership between MediaTek and TSMC, with both companies taking full advantage of their strengths in chip design and manufacturing to jointly create flagship SoCs with high performance and low power features, empowering global end devices.

“We are committed to our vision of using the world’s most advanced technology to create cutting edge products that improve our lives in meaningful ways,” said Joe Chen, President of MediaTek. “TSMC's consistent and high-quality manufacturing capabilities enable MediaTek to fully demonstrate its superior design in flagship chipsets, offering the highest performance and quality solutions to our global customers and enhancing the user experience in the flagship market.”

“This collaboration between MediaTek and TSMC on MediaTek’s Dimensity SoC means the power of the industry’s most advanced semiconductor process technology can be as accessible as the smartphone in your pocket,” said Dr. Cliff Hou, Senior Vice President of Europe and Asia Sales at TSMC. “Throughout the years, we have worked closely with MediaTek to bring numerous significant innovations to the market and are honored to continue our partnership into the 3nm generation and beyond.”

TSMC’s 3nm process technology provides enhanced performance, power, and yield, in addition to complete platform support for both high performance computing and mobile applications. Compared with TSMC’s N5 process, TSMC’s 3nm technology currently offers as much as 18% speed improvement at same power, or 32% power reduction at same speed, and approximately 60% increase in logic density.

MediaTek's Dimensity SoCs, built with industry-leading process technology, are designed to meet the ever-increasing user experience requirements for mobile computing, high-speed connectivity, artificial intelligence, and multimedia. MediaTek’s first flagship chipset using TSMC’s 3nm process is expected to empower smartphones, tablets, intelligent cars and various other devices starting in the second half of 2024.

TSMC Spokesperson​

Wendell Huang
Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Tel:886-3-5055901

TSMC Deputy Spokesperson​

Nina Kao
Public Relations Division
Tel:886-3-5636688 Ext.7125036

 

[Paul2]

Apple is always first to a node and they do not announce until the iPhone is in hand. Either Anton Shilov is intentionally misinforming people or he is a complete idiot. Either way his editor should fire him. Unless that is what the publication is all about.

"MediaTek this week announced that it had successfully taped out its first flagship smartphone system-on-chip using TSMC's 3nm-class fabrication process, which technically means it has beaten Apple to the first 3nm SoC. Based on the information disclosed by the SoC developer, we are dealing with an application processor set to be made on TSMC's N3E manufacturing technology, which makes it one of the industry's first chip to use this node."

MediaTek Beats Apple to Announcing 3nm Chips

MediaTek tapes out first 3nm smartphone SoC with TSMC. But what about IFS relationship?.

www.yahoo.com

They beaten Apple for 10nm as well, whether they were engineering samples, or symbolic first shipments, I don't know. What matter however is the real time to market. 10 years ago, Qcom would be indisputably first in line, but the time chip were getting to phones was very different. It doesn't matter if you have chips first, when your software people need to spend a year to wrestle Qualcomm's terrible BSP.

 

[Daniel Nenni]

They beaten Apple for 10nm as well, whether they were engineering samples, or symbolic first shipments, I don't know. What matter however is the real time to market. 10 years ago, Qcom would be indisputably first in line, but the time chip were getting to phones was very different. It doesn't matter if you have chips first, when your software people need to spend a year to wrestle Qualcomm's terrible BSP.

They did not beat Apple nor have they ever. MediaTek does a tape-out press release and that is compared to high volume manufacturing by a systems company that is shipping millions of products. Apple's N3 SoC was "ready" in Q4 2022 by MediaTek's measure. If you want to compare MediaTek's press release to a press release by QCOM that is fine since they both sell chips. Apple is going to sell millions of iPhones with N3 silicon this month and MediaTek is just now taping out N3? And no where in that press release from MediaTek does it mention Apple. The media made this bogus claim to steal clicks.

 

[gunnar]

This is what happens when people don't understand the terminology of a complex process. Tapeout == the design files are ready to be sent to the manufacturer (the files used to be stored on magnetic tape, hence the term). There are no physical chips in hand. They're getting ready to start the initial production run. Also, just today Apple announced the finished product with these chips in them. They didn't just come off of the production line, they have been produced, packaged, tested, AND developed for by Apple's engineers, for 6-12 months at minimum. These things take time.

 

[Daniel Nenni]

iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max

iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. Titanium design. A17 Pro chip. 48MP Main camera. Record spatial video for Apple Vision Pro. Action button. USB-C.

www.apple.com

The A17 Pro boasts 19 billion transistors and a 6-core CPU, with two high-performance cores (which Apple calls the "faster mobile CPU"), up to 10% faster than predecessors, and four high-efficiency cores. The 16-core neural engine can process up to 35 trillion operations per second, and Apple is boasting about more speed here, too. There are also dedicated engines for ProRes, an AV1 decoder, and the Pro display engine.

 

[gunnar]

@Daniel Nenni It's clickbait, pure and simple. A couple of paragraphs into the "article" there is this little gem (emphasis mine):

Formally, MediaTek beats Apple to the punch with a 3nm smartphone SoC, but there is a catch. Apple's 3nm mobile application processor is reportedly in mass production and is about to hit the market later this month when the company launches its iPhone 15 series. Meanwhile, MediaTek's next-generation Dimensity flagship will be made in 2024.

 

[Paul2]

By the way, you can understand why Samsung keeps the Snapdragon and Exynos split by looking at how many markets will be covered by one vs another in that years manufacturing run. In bad years, they run more markets at Qcom chips, in better ones more at own. It seems to be counter intuitive, but starts to make sense that their fab is also making money. Also, in a bad year, you will do a minimal run, in a good one you run as much as you can.

This is an intricate dance they do with planning their fab capacity.

In recent years, I seen Samsung selling less, and less Exynos leftovers.