Apple A17 Pro was fabbed on a 3nm node while Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC and Exynos 2400 were fabbed on a 4nm node. Getting to a lower fabrication process brings better performance and power efficiency. Leading chip manufacturers are already working their way to building chips on the 2nm process and it seems like Samsung and TSMC want to keep these techs to their home country only.
A report by the Korean Times and South China Morning Post said that Samsung and TSMC will soon begin manufacturing chips on a 2nm node. Samsung will begin the same next year and has pledged to invest $371 billion by 2047 to build a mega-cluster near Seoul, Korea. This mega semiconductor plant will have 3 research facilities and 13 chip plants where Samsung will build 2nm chips.
Taiwan-based TSMC which also manufactures chipsets for Apple, plans to build plants at Kaohsiung and Hsinchu in Taiwan as well as in Taichung where it will manufacture chips based on a 2nm fab process.
According to both the major chip manufacturers, they will continue manufacturing chips in and outside their home countries, however, the most latest tech i.e. 2nm process in this context, will be limited to their home country only.
Both companies are facing issues with manufacturing chipsets in other countries that have slowed down their work. For instance, both the tech giants are experiencing talent shortages and the local unions have prevented them from getting specialists from home countries as well. There are also subsidies from the US and other countries where the payout has been slow adding to the overall delay in the manufacturing process.
According to TSMC, which has two plants based in Arizona that are still under construction, both will soon begin manufacturing 4nm chips in 2024 followed by 3nm chips in 2026. Talking about the other chipmaker i.e. Samsung, its $17Bn Texas plant is expected to handle only 4nm nodes which means the 2nm chips are likely to be manufactured elsewhere.
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