MacBook Pro M2 Pro Chip by TSMC to Start Production Later This Year: Report

The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) could begin the production of its new 3nm chips for Apple by the end of this year, a new report claims. The Cupertino company could become the first to use the new 3nm processor for its M2 Pro chipsets. The report further suggests that Apple’s A17 Bionic chip and the M3 chip could continue to use TSMC’s 3nm process. The move from TSMC’s 5nm process to the 3nm process is expected to result in improved performance and energy efficiency.

According to a report by Taiwan’s Commercial Times (via MacRumours), Apple will take advantage of TSMC’s 3nm process for the M2 Pro chip, which is expected to come with the company’s new lineup of 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops. These MacBook Pro laptops are expected to arrive later this year or early 2023.

The report further mentions that a new high-end Mac Mini could also come with the new M2 Pro chip. Apple is expected to utilise TSMC’s 3nm process for its A17 Bionic chip for next year’s iPhone 15 Pro models. This technology could also be used for the M3 chip for future generations of MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro models.

The M2 Pro chips manufactured using the 3nm process are expected to offer faster performance and better energy efficiency in comparison to the ones made using TSMC’s 5nm process. It could result in improved battery life for future iPhones and Macs.

Apple is expected to be the first to use TSMC’s 3nm chips by the end of this year. However, companies like Intel, Super Micro, Huida, Qualcomm, MediaTek, Broadcom, and more will seemingly get their hands on 3nm chips next year. Even AMD is expected to use TSMC’s 3nm process for some of its products after completely transitioning to the Zen 5 architecture next year or the year after.