Discussion Leading Edge Foundry Node advances (TSMC, Samsung Foundry, Intel) - [2020 - 2025]

Page 181 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

DisEnchantment

Golden Member
Mar 3, 2017
1,777
6,781
136
TSMC's N7 EUV is now in its second year of production and N5 is contributing to revenue for TSMC this quarter. N3 is scheduled for 2022 and I believe they have a good chance to reach that target.

1587737990547.png
N7 performance is more or less understood.
1587739093721.png

This year and next year TSMC is mainly increasing capacity to meet demands.

For Samsung the nodes are basically the same from 7LPP to 4 LPE, they just add incremental scaling boosters while the bulk of the tech is the same.

Samsung is already shipping 7LPP and will ship 6LPP in H2. Hopefully they fix any issues if at all.
They have two more intermediate nodes in between before going to 3GAE, most likely 5LPE will ship next year but for 4LPE it will probably be back to back with 3GAA since 3GAA is a parallel development with 7LPP enhancements.


1587739615344.png

Samsung's 3GAA will go for HVM in 2022 most likely, similar timeframe to TSMC's N3.
There are major differences in how the transistor will be fabricated due to the GAA but density for sure Samsung will be behind N3.
But there might be advantages for Samsung with regards to power and performance, so it may be better suited for some applications.
But for now we don't know how much of this is true and we can only rely on the marketing material.

This year there should be a lot more available wafers due to lack of demand from Smartphone vendors and increased capacity from TSMC and Samsung.
Lots of SoCs which dont need to be top end will be fabbed with N7 or 7LPP/6LPP instead of N5, so there will be lots of wafers around.

Most of the current 7nm designs are far from the advertized density from TSMC and Samsung. There is still potential for density increase compared to currently shipping products.
N5 is going to be the leading foundry node for the next couple of years.

For a lot of fabless companies out there, the processes and capacity available are quite good.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


FEEL FREE TO CREATE A NEW THREAD FOR 2025+ OUTLOOK, I WILL LINK IT HERE
 
Last edited:

DavidC1

Golden Member
Dec 29, 2023
1,546
2,556
96
Yeah but you have to understand it's not only US it's combination of multiple countries vs China
When it comes to investments, US is a powerhouse because they are much more conservative in Asia/Europe. Also because it's multiple countries, there are lot more redundancies.

Note that rest of the world isn't under pressure to go another way either. China does because of the sanctions.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 511

Tigerick

Senior member
Apr 1, 2022
764
721
106

I am surprised TSMC is able to spare production of N2/N2P process to Fujitsu. Monaka should utilize 4 x 32-core = 144-core ARM server CPU. Before this news, it was rumored that Monaka is using Rapidus's 2nm process. Guess TSMC's Kungfu wins over Rapidus. The same situation happens to SF and IF; Samsung's Exynos 2600 is still struggling with SF2 process and Intel NVL's 8+16 compute tile is fabbed by N2 process with 4+8 compute tile being fabbed by Intel's 18-A process. :cool:
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Io Magnesso

Io Magnesso

Member
Jun 12, 2025
164
56
56
I have yet to see a single smart move from them. They will still force people to eat hybrid cores. Either choose fat cores or the mont cores or make separate SKUs for both and let people choose. The only place where these hybrid cores need to exist is in laptops.
It's difficult to make each of them because it's costly and costly. It's sad but...
It's hard to manage SKUs with different designs and completely different personalities…
I'm also interested in a desktop CPU that is only for E Core.
 

511

Platinum Member
Jul 12, 2024
2,550
2,382
106
I have yet to see a single smart move from them. They will still force people to eat hybrid cores. Either choose fat cores or the mont cores or make separate SKUs for both and let people choose. The only place where these hybrid cores need to exist is in laptops.

You can say the same for AMD Zen6 it's an Hybrid Arch 😛.
Do you really think P and E core are issue with Skymont in ARL wait till you see Arctic Wolf 🤣.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DKR and Io Magnesso

MS_AT

Senior member
Jul 15, 2024
697
1,415
96
24C Z6 +2LPE are considered Hybrid
Strix Halo was supposed to be hybrid, didn't turn out to be true, so until we see something more tangible that these LP cores will be in and what is actually low power about them, I think it's too early to say. Btw, on my colleague's Meteor Lake, Windows is doing quite a good job of keeping the compilation workloads away from LPE cores.
 

511

Platinum Member
Jul 12, 2024
2,550
2,382
106
Strix Halo was supposed to be hybrid, didn't turn out to be true, so until we see something more tangible that these LP cores will be in and what is actually low power about them, I think it's too early to say. Btw, on my colleague's Meteor Lake, Windows is doing quite a good job of keeping the compilation workloads away from LPE cores.
It's certainly there tbh same as 4LP-E cores there is no other way to lower the ideal/low load power scenarios.
The problem is games sometimes in rendering and other scenarios I never faced this problem.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Io Magnesso
Jul 27, 2020
25,357
17,599
146
24C Z6 +2LPE are considered Hybrid 🤣
Why can't Intel do the same? Instead of trying to compete with AMD, they should just release Darkmont CPU with 2 tiny Darkmont LPE cores. They shamefully released a crappy Lion Cove CPU but releasing a Darkmont CPU is a complete no no? Such political hypocrites they are.
 

511

Platinum Member
Jul 12, 2024
2,550
2,382
106
Why can't Intel do the same? Instead of trying to compete with AMD, they should just release Darkmont CPU with 2 tiny Darkmont LPE cores. They shamefully released a crappy Lion Cove CPU but releasing a Darkmont CPU is a complete no no? Such political hypocrites they are.
They decided Unified Last year so add 4 years and we should get what you want in 2028 with Unified Core.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DKR and Io Magnesso

Io Magnesso

Member
Jun 12, 2025
164
56
56
Sure, it makes sense for mobile, but on desktop, if they go Halo interconnect route, the power savings of LP cores will be dwarfed by power supply inefficiencies. But remains to be seen I guess.
It's true that there aren't many examples, and the benefits may not be as good as a laptop, but even on a desktop, LP-E Core may be useful when you're in sleep.
 

511

Platinum Member
Jul 12, 2024
2,550
2,382
106
don't forget HX laptop shares design with Desktop where they can be useful you can pack 52 cores and battery life near a strix point laptop.
 
Last edited: