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If the new Apple processor is actually 7nm fab, that means that Apple is performing at a higher level of execution than basically everyone else in silicon land.

If the new Apple processor is actually 7nm fab, that means that Apple is performing at a higher level of execution than basically everyone else in silicon land. Intel just failed spectacularly at shipping 10nm and TSMC is just beginning to do 7nm production hypothetically (I don't think any major production runs have been announced yet, but please correct me if I'm wrong). If Apple is shipping 7nm in iPhones, that's actually incredible. Edit: After doing a bit of research, it seems like Intel is actually the odd duck out and TSMC is doing the fab on these chip runs as well as the fab on Huawei's new chip with dual Neural Processing Units. It's actually just Intel that's failing to produce smaller and smaller chips (again, TSMC is producing 7nm for this Apple run as well as Huawei's new chip).

plantain 8y ago
7nm != 7nm - there's a lot of variety between processes. 7nm on a (relatively) small ARM is also a different world to 7nm on a chip the size of the latest Intel's.
- fermienrico 8y ago
  Yep, for most intents and purposes, the "nm" race is mostly used for marketing akin to the "GHz" race back in the 90's and 00's. See this presentation from Mark Bohr from Intel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApWOf6J858Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApWOf6J858Y
- tigershark 8y ago
  6.9B transistors doesn't look small by any standard to me..
  - m_mueller 8y ago
    die size would br interesting indeed.
  - bookofjoe 8y ago
    Concur. I almost passed out when that slide came up.
yladiz 8y ago
TSMC is Apple's sole fabricator for their A series chips so they must be able to make 7nm chips.
- josh2600 8y ago
  Yeah, I realized my error and edited the post.
cma 8y ago
> It's actually just Intel that's failing to produce smaller and smaller chips Actually Global Foundries just announced they are abandoning 7nm for the short term.
mooman219 8y ago
Size is really just a marketing term at this point. Intel "10nm" is about the same as TSMC "7nm". Size of various features is roughly the same between the two. Global Foundries decided to not touch this cycle (at least for the short term). Samsung also decided to slow their pursuit of "7nm" and focus on "8nm".
- AceJohnny2 8y ago
  > Global Foundries decided to not touch this cycle (at least for the short term). Sounds like GF is dropping out of Moore's Law's race entirely, and changed their strategy to focusing on improving the higher nodes instead: https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333637 https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333637
KSS42 8y ago
AMD has announced 7nm parts also. So, they are only slightly later than Apple with TSMC 7nm.

plantain 8y ago

7nm != 7nm - there's a lot of variety between processes. 7nm on a (relatively) small ARM is also a different world to 7nm on a chip the size of the latest Intel's.

fermienrico 8y ago
Yep, for most intents and purposes, the "nm" race is mostly used for marketing akin to the "GHz" race back in the 90's and 00's. See this presentation from Mark Bohr from Intel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApWOf6J858Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApWOf6J858Y
tigershark 8y ago
6.9B transistors doesn't look small by any standard to me..
- m_mueller 8y ago
  die size would br interesting indeed.
- bookofjoe 8y ago
  Concur. I almost passed out when that slide came up.

yladiz 8y ago

TSMC is Apple's sole fabricator for their A series chips so they must be able to make 7nm chips.

josh2600 8y ago
Yeah, I realized my error and edited the post.

cma 8y ago

> It's actually just Intel that's failing to produce smaller and smaller chips Actually Global Foundries just announced they are abandoning 7nm for the short term.

mooman219 8y ago

Size is really just a marketing term at this point. Intel "10nm" is about the same as TSMC "7nm". Size of various features is roughly the same between the two. Global Foundries decided to not touch this cycle (at least for the short term). Samsung also decided to slow their pursuit of "7nm" and focus on "8nm".

AceJohnny2 8y ago
> Global Foundries decided to not touch this cycle (at least for the short term). Sounds like GF is dropping out of Moore's Law's race entirely, and changed their strategy to focusing on improving the higher nodes instead: https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333637 https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333637

KSS42 8y ago

AMD has announced 7nm parts also. So, they are only slightly later than Apple with TSMC 7nm.