The pace at which leading semiconductor foundries are innovating to enhance the speed, performance, and efficiency of smartphone chips is impressive. In a significant advancement, TSMC, the top foundry globally, is gearing up to commence mass production of 1.6nm chips next year, following its upcoming launch of 2nm chip production. As technology progresses, the continual reduction in process node sizes leads to smaller transistors, ultimately enabling a greater number of them to fit within the same chip area.
This reduction in size is crucial; smaller transistors contribute to increased transistor density, meaning more transistors can be packed into a chip. As the number of transistors rises, so does the power and energy efficiency of these semiconductor devices. A stark illustration of this trend is evident when comparing the advancements made over the last few years.
For instance, the iPhone 11 series, launched in 2019, was powered by the 7nm A13 Bionic processor, which housed 8.5 billion transistors. In contrast, the recently released iPhone 16 Pro Max features the advanced 3nm A18 Pro chip, likely containing over 20 billion transistors, given that the A17 Pro has 19 billion transistors.
Recently, TSMC reported impressive fourth-quarter revenues, climbing 37% year-over-year to $26.88 billion. Although the company anticipates a sequential revenue decline in Q1 2025 due to typical "smartphone seasonality," it projects a remarkable annual growth of 34.7% for the same quarter.
With the introduction of 2nm chips, TSMC is set to implement Gate-All-Around (GAA) transistors. This cutting-edge technology features vertically stacked horizontal nanosheets that encircle the channel on all sides, effectively reducing current leaks and enhancing drive current, resulting in chips that deliver higher performance and energy efficiency. Furthermore, with the rollout of 1.6nm chips, TSMC will debut backside power delivery (BPD), shifting power delivery from the front of the silicon wafer to the back, providing more room for transistors.
To highlight the progress in chip technology, the original iPhone released in 2007 utilized a chip based on a 90nm process node. The upcoming iPhone 17 series, set to launch this September, will feature the 3nm A19 and A19 Pro application processors, produced using TSMC's third-generation 3nm node (N3P). Tentatively, we can expect that the first iPhone operating on 2nm technology will be the 2026 iPhone 18 series.
As for when the first iPhone will harness the 1.6nm process, that remains uncertain. However, TSMC has disclosed that the 1.6nm chips will yield an 8% to 10% increase in speed at the same power level compared to the 2nm node.
