TSMC will launch mass production of 3nm ‘M2 Pro’ later this year

Apple this week unveiled the new M2 chip, which is the first upgrade to Apple Silicon chips created specifically for the Mac and iPad. While the new M2-powered MacBooks have yet to hit the market, Haitong Intl Tech Research analyst Jeff Pu has now announced that Apple vendor TSMC will begin mass production of the new, more powerful “M2 Pro” chip. late this year.

M2 Pro chip

According to research by Jeff Pu seen by 9to5Mac, Apple will continue with TSMC as Apple Silicon chip supplier. The Taiwanese semiconductor company is expected to begin mass production of Apple’s new “M2 Pro” chip later this year, which would be built on the 3-nanometer process.

For those who don’t know, the scale of a chip in nanometers represents the distance between its transistors. The smaller the distance, the better the performance. Despite a number of improvements, the new Apple Silicon M2 chip is built on the same 5-nanometer process as M1.

Apple claims the M2 has 18% faster CPU performance than the M1, with 35% better graphics thanks to a new 10-core GPU. M2 also offers up to 24 GB of RAM, while M1 is only available with 8 GB and 16 GB of RAM.

Earlier this year, 9to5Mac learned from sources that Apple is working on a new Mac mini with the M2 Pro chip, while the company is also developing even more powerful chips for the long-awaited Apple Silicon Mac Pro. If the Pu ratio is correct, the high-end versions of the M2 chip will all be built on the 3-nanometer process.

This time, Apple has also been working on another new Mac mini (codenamed J474) featuring the M2 Pro chip – a variant with eight performance cores and four efficiency cores, totaling 12 cores to CPU. 10 cores from the current one. M1 Pro.

Interestingly, in addition to mentioning “Apple’s internal server” in a reference to the new Mac Pro, Pu also suggests that there will be a new iPad with a 3-nanometer chip.

Apple’s AR/VR headset

Following Ming-Chi Kuo’s report on Apple’s new AR/VR headset coming in Q2 2023, Pu believes the device will be announced after Chinese New Year and go into mass production in February 2023.

The analyst also mentioned in his latest report that Apple plans to build the 2023 iPhone using its own modem, and he corroborates rumors that the so-called iPhone 15 Pro will feature a periscope lens for optical zoom.

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