TSMC has simply introduced an all-new chip manufacturing course of referred to as “A16”
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that Apple will transfer away from its present processor designs that preserve the CPU and GPU cores on the identical chip — and see a efficiency achieve.
One of many causes for Apple Silicon‘s pace over the earlier Intel processors has been that every M-series chip has been a single unit. This System-on-a-Chip (SoC) concept cuts bottlenecks by having all of the processor’s parts collectively on one chip bundle.
In line with Kuo, nevertheless, Apple goes to alter this for the M5 Professional, M5 Max, and M5 Extremely. Solely the M5 will stay as a single unit.
As an alternative, the M5 Professional and different chips will use producer TSMC’s newest chip packaging course of. Referred to as the System-in-Built-in-Chips-Molding-Horizontal (SoIC-mH), it places collectively completely different chips into one bundle.
Apple M5 collection chip
1. The M5 collection chips will undertake TSMC’s superior N3P node, which entered the prototype section a couple of months in the past. M5, M5 Professional/Max, and M5 Extremely mass manufacturing is predicted in 1H25, 2H25, and 2026, respectively.
2. The M5 Professional, Max, and Extremely will make the most of https://t.co/XIWHx5B2Cy— (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) December 23, 2024
The benefit, in line with Kuo, is that this may produce “server-grade” packaging. Apple “will use 2.5D packaging” that has “separate CPU and GPU designs,” and which is able to “enhance manufacturing yields and thermal efficiency.”
Kuo says that mass manufacturing is predicted in 2H25 for the M5 Professional and the M5 Max, after which 2026 for the M5 Extremely. The M5 has reportedly been within the prototyping phrase for a couple of months, and mass manufacturing is believed to be deliberate for 1H25.
That M5 processor will probably be produced by TSMC utilizing its N3P expertise, which is predicted to be seen first within the iPhone 18 vary.
Kuo additionally claims that the M5 Professional processors will probably be utilized in Apple Intelligence servers. Particularly, it is going to be utilized for the corporate’s Personal Cloud Compute expertise.
