TSMC chips to hit 1.4nm in 2028, with confusing name confirmed

Apple chipmaker TSMC says that it will make chips with a sub-2nm process size for the first time ever in 2028, and that the development of 1.4nm chips will allow for greater AI capabilities.

The iPhone maker is generally first in line for the company’s most advanced chipmaking capabilities, so we can expect the chips – slightly confusingly dubbed A14 – to debut in 2028 iPhones …

Up until around 1997, the sizes of chip processes referred to physical size of transistor gates in nanometers. Since then, the actual numbers are more marketing speak than anything, but it is the case that each process generation is smaller than the last, and that TSMC has for a great many years led the race toward ever smaller processes.

But the convention of using nanometers to describe the process size has led to a slight naming issue for TSMC. All was fine when it was N7, N5, N3, and N2 – but we heard back in 2023 that the company would adopt a new naming convention once it moved below 2nm. Specifically, it would swap the N prefix for an A, and 1.4nm chips would be labelled A14. This of course conflicts with the naming of Apple processors.

But the company has now confirmed this, stating that the first A14 chip will be made in 2028.

TSMC today unveiled its next cutting-edge logic process technology, A14, at the Company’s North America Technology Symposium. Representing a significant advancement from TSMC’s industry-leading N2 process, A14 is designed to drive AI transformation forward by delivering faster computing and greater power efficiency.

It says the new generation of chips will allow even greater AI performance in particular.

Compared with the N2 process, which is about to enter volume production later this year, A14 will offer up to 15% speed improvement at the same power, or up to 30% power reduction at the same speed, along with more than 20% increase in logic density […]

It’s also expected to enhance smartphones by improving their on-board AI capabilities, making them even smarter.

TSMC always has limited production capacity for its latest processes, and Apple typically books 100% of that capacity for its own use in the launch year.