Today, MediaTek and TSMC announced that MediaTek has successfully produced its first chip using TSMC’s cutting-edge 3nm technology. The feat was achieved by taping out MediaTek’s flagship Dimensity system-on-chip (SoC), and volume production is expected to begin the following year. This represents a significant milestone in the long-standing strategic partnership between MediaTek and TSMC. Both companies will leverage their respective chip design and manufacturing strengths to jointly create flagship system-on-chips (SoCs) with high performance and low power characteristics, empowering global end devices.
According to Dr. Cliff Hou, Senior Vice President of Europe and Asia Sales at TSMC, the partnership between MediaTek and TSMC for MediaTek’s Dimensity SoC makes the industry’s most sophisticated semiconductor process technology as accessible as the smartphone. This partnership is for MediaTek’s Dimensity SoC. Over the past many years, TSMC and MediaTek have worked closely together to bring multiple key breakthroughs to the market. This tight collaboration will continue beyond the manufacture of 3nm semiconductors.
The 3nm process technology developed by TSMC provides enhanced performance, decreased power consumption, increased yield, and comprehensive support for enterprise computer and mobile application development. Compared with TSMC’s N5 process, the company’s 3nm technology delivers an 18% improvement in speed while maintaining the same power consumption, a 32% reduction in power consumption while maintaining the same speed, and a rise in logic density of approximately 60%.
The release states that MediaTek’s Dimensity SoCs are designed to address the expanding user experience needs for mobile computing, high-speed networking, artificial intelligence, and multimedia. These criteria are met by using process technology that is the most advanced in the industry. It is projected that MediaTek’s first flagship chipset, which will use TSMC’s 3nm process, will begin powering smartphones, tablets, intelligent vehicles, and other gadgets beginning in the second half of 2024, the release adds.
