TSMC’s N3E Node Said to Have Good Yields, Volume Production Expected Q2 2023

Back in March there were reports of TSMC’s N3E node having been moved from 2024 to the end of 2023. However, it seems like the node is already seeing better than expected yields and is now being pulled in further and TSMC is expecting to start volume production as early as Q2 in 2023. The node does appear to have been frozen when it comes to further development as of the end of March. Yields are said to be much higher than the N3B node, which is also under development, but with limited information available about it.

The first customer for the new node is expected to be Apple, as the company is largely paying for much of the cutting edge node development at TSMC. However, both Intel and Qualcomm are said to be some of the first customers for the new node. More details should hopefully be announced tomorrow during TSMC’s first quarter earnings call. The N3E node is a reduced layer EUV process, but before it goes into mass production, it’s likely we’ll be seeing the N3 node first. Early production of 3 nm parts later this year is expected to be at around 10 to 20k wafers per month initially, rising to about 25 to 35k a month once TSMC’s new fab is ready. Once the N3E node is in full swing, the monthly capacity of 3 nm parts should be around 50k wafers a month, but depending on customer demand, it might end up being even higher.