Good grief! "TSMC is going to 'cheat'!" " The semiconductor industry has been in an uproar recently - TSMC announced that it will start mass production of 1.4nm process chips in 2027, two years ahead of the original plan! As soon as the news came out, Intel and Samsung were completely stunned, and netizens became even more excited: "What does 1.4nm mean?" Smaller than the diameter of an atom? "Did the US spend 52 billion in subsidies on chips, only to be overtaken by TSMC on a curve?" " "Domestic 28nm technology has just stabilized. Is 1.4nm a 'fantasy'?" "

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I. 1.4nm "Nuclear Bomb-level" Breakthrough: How Did TSMC Achieve It?

1. How powerful is 1.4nm? The size of a fingernail is crammed with 100 billion transistors, and performance surges by 30%!

Let's start with the data - TSMC's 1.4nm process can accommodate 250 million transistors per square millimeter. A chip the size of a fingernail (about 100 square millimeters) can accommodate 25 billion transistors! Even more impressive is that compared with the 3nm process, the 1.4nm process has a 30% performance improvement and a 25% power consumption reduction!

What does it mean? Simply put, a mobile phone CPU made with 1.4nm does not generate heat when running "Genshin Impact" at full high resolution, and the AI computing power doubles directly. The computer CPU can run 20 virtual machines simultaneously without any lag. The energy efficiency ratio of server cpus has been improved by 40%, which can save a significant amount of electricity for data centers! Netizens joked: "In the future, mobile phones might be even more powerful than computers. Computers should 'retire'!"

2. Why does TSMC take the lead? EUV lithography machine +GAA transistor + "material stacking" black technology!

TSMC has developed 1.4nm technology thanks to its "equipment + technology + money" trio!

The first move: ASML's EUV Lithography machines "Unlimited supply"

The 1.4nm process must use ASML's High-NA EUV lithography machine (with a single unit price of 400 million US dollars), and TSMC is ASML's "biggest financial backer" - in 2023, TSMC purchased 15 EUVs, accounting for 40% of ASML's total sales! What's even more ruthless is that TSMC and ASML are "deeply bound", allowing for "customization" of core components such as the light source and lens of the photolithography machine, while Samsung and Intel can only purchase "standard versions".

The second move: GAA transistors "crush" FinFET

The 1.4nm process employs "Gate-all-around transistor" (GAA), which is smaller, faster and more power-efficient than the traditional FinFET (Fin Field-Effect Transistor). The channel of GAA transistors is a "nanosheet" structure, which can control the current in 360 degrees and has a leakage rate 50% lower than that of FinFET! TSMC's GAA technology is called "N2", which is more mature than Samsung's "3GAP", with a yield rate of up to 85%, while Samsung's yield rate is only 60%.

The third move: "piling up materials" style research and development, burning 40 billion US dollars in a year!

TSMC's annual R&D investment accounts for 25% of its revenue (approximately 40 billion US dollars), which is twice as much as that of Intel (20 billion) and Samsung (25 billion)! In 2024, TSMC formed a "1.4nm Breakthrough Team", gathering 3,000 engineers who worked in 7× 24-hour shifts on research and development, without even taking a break during the Spring Festival! A netizen said, "TSMC is' throwing money at technology '. Other factories simply can't afford to play around!"

3. Why are Americans so impatient? Did the 52 billion yuan subsidy go to waste?

As soon as the news of TSMC's 1.4nm process broke out, the US immediately "broke down" - in 2022, the US passed the "Chips Act", investing 52 billion US dollars to subsidize domestic chip factories. As a result, Intel's 2nm process was delayed until 2025, Samsung's 3nm yield rate was "poor", and TSMC's 1.4nm process was about to enter mass production!

What's even more heart-wrenching is that the six factories TSMC is building in Arizona, USA, will only start mass production of 4nm in 2024, while the 1.4nm production in Taiwan is almost completed! U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo quipped, "We spent 52 billion, but TSMC still left the most advanced technology in Taiwan. Did this subsidy go down the water?" Netizens joked: "The Americans wanted to 'poach their talents', but in the end, TSMC was' physically in Cao's camp but mentally in Wuhan'!"