3nm chips lead the new schedule of mobile phone technology, who is the main manufacturer of ups and downs?
Breakthroughs in semiconductor manufacturing processes often herald new heights in the performance of electronic products. As the first mobile phone industry to reflect the strength of chips, every process upgrade will cause a violent shock in the industrial chain. Just when Apple's A17 new force is expanding its territory, the Android camp has sounded the clarion call for 3nm mobile phone chips to prepare for the new schedule of mobile phone technology.
The two giants of TSMC and Samsung chip foundry are once again competing on the same field, while Qualcomm, MediaTek, Samsung, Google, Xiaomi and other chip designers and mobile phone brands are surging. What kind of wave will be set off in the 3nm era? How big a leap can the mobile experience be? How can the electronics giants stretch their hands in this race? We'll see.
3nm chips are full of gunsmoke
After years of development and precipitation, the process technology has become the most important focus of competition in the semiconductor industry. Constantly innovating and moving towards smaller size nodes is the only way for the development of semiconductors. And 3nm is the next crossroads that can be seen on this road.
At the beginning of this year, Apple took the lead in applying TSMC 3nm chips to the A17 series processors, opening a new prelude to the 3nm era. As another important node after 5nm, the 3nm process technology has not only greatly improved transistor density, energy consumption and heat dissipation, but also increased the complexity of integrated circuits.
TSMC is divided into five different versions on the 3nm process, including N3B, N3E, N3P, N3S, and N3X, to meet the needs of different customers and application scenarios. Among them, the Apple A17 processor uses the N3B version, which can be regarded as the best performance. Compared to the previous generation A16, the A17 has a roughly 20% increase in CPU performance, a 15% increase in GPU performance, and a nearly 35% reduction in power consumption.
However, the overly advanced process also seems to give Apple a lot of constraints. According to supply chain news, the capacity of the A17 has been a big problem, with both inventory and shipments being tight. Months of shortages have led to a significant drop in shipments of mobile phones, including the iPhone 14 Pro. It is only recently that the situation has eased.
At the same time, the 3nm chip of the Android camp is also in full swing. The latest news shows that Qualcomm's flagship processor Snapdragon 8 Gen4 is about to join the ranks of 3nm and will be equipped with TSMC's N3E process technology. Unlike the A17's top-of-the-line process, the N3E is a balance between performance and cost, indicating that Android phones will also enter a more efficient 3nm era.
In addition to the Snapdragon 8 Gen4, 3nm chips from chip designers such as Samsung, Google, and MediaTek are also on the way. Samsung has chosen its own independent route of 3nm MBCFET process, and plans to launch its first finished product next year. As for Google and MediaTek, they are all scheduled to merge with 3nm next year.
At this stage, Qualcomm's choice of N3E is undoubtedly the one that the outside world pays the most attention to and has the most opportunities. After all, Android phones are a great time for a generational upgrade. According to Qualcomm's plan, the Snapdragon 8 Gen4 is expected to be launched by the end of this year and will be equipped with first-line flagship phones next year.
The smoke of a 3nm chip is gradually rising in the mobile phone rivers and lakes, and the protagonists are also ready, and they are becoming more and more tense, which makes people look forward to it.
What exactly can 3nm chips bring?
Compared with 2nm or even 1nm, the 3nm process may not be the real limit. But from the current point of view, to achieve the next decade of scientific and technological leap, the 3nm process is undoubtedly an important litmus test.
First of all, from the perspective of energy efficiency, the power consumption level of 3nm chips will again drop significantly. According to Apple's official announcement, the N3B process of A17 can reduce the performance and power consumption of SoC single core by 35%, which is rare in the field of mobile phone processors.
If the N3E process used in the Snapdragon 8 Gen4 in the Android camp also performs similarly, the battery life of Android phones will also be further improved, especially in gaming and other high-load scenarios, and the improvement in energy efficiency ratio will be more obvious.
Secondly, in terms of computing performance, 3nm chips will further expand the gap with the previous generation. At present, it has been reported that the Snapdragon 8 Gen4 will use a dual-Tenghu (PhoenixPC) large core + six small core architecture, with a single-core frequency of up to 3.6GHz-4GHz, which greatly exceeds the Qualcomm chips currently on the market.
Although the actual commercial frequency may be slightly adjusted, the overall processor performance is still expected to exceed the previous generation by more than 20%, and the GPU performance has also been greatly improved. Therefore, whether it is running complex 3D games or daily office entertainment, the 3nm chip will bring a smoother experience.
In addition, the 3nm process will also bring a new level of integration, providing more room for the improvement of mobile phone functions such as artificial intelligence and image processing. For example, by improving video encoding and decoding capabilities, better 4K and 8K video recording can be achieved on mobile phones; By upgrading AI hardware, more intelligent voice control and assistance can be realized. The capabilities of mobile phones will be improved to the next level.
Of course, perhaps the greatest value of the 3nm process is that it enables mobile phone manufacturers to integrate more transistors in a smaller silicon wafer area, leaving ample design space for the development of more powerful mobile phone processors. With the advent of more advanced architectures and processes, the software and hardware capabilities of mobile phones will continue to improve, and it is no longer a dream to achieve pocket PC-level performance in the future.