[News] Apple M4 Incoming, Boosting TSMC’s 3nm Production

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In a bid to seize the AI PC market opportunity, Apple is set to debut its new iPad Pro on the 7th, featuring its in-house M4 chip. With the momentum of the M4 chip’s strong debut, Apple reportedly plans to revamp its entire Mac lineup. The initial batch of M4 Macs is estimated to hit the market gradually from late this year to early next year.

It’s reported by a report from Commercial Times that Apple’s M4 chip adopts TSMC’s N3E process, aligning with Apple’s plans for a major performance upgrade for Mac, which is expected to boost TSMC’s operations.

Notably, per Wccftech’s previous report, it is rumored that the N3E process is also used for producing products like the A18 Pro, the upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, and the MediaTek Dimensity 9400, among other major clients’ products.

Apple held an online launch event in Taiwan on May 7th at 10 p.m. Per industry sources cited by the same report, besides introducing accessories like iPad Pro, iPad Air, and Apple Pencil, the event will mark the debut of the M4 self-developed chip, unveiling the computational capabilities of Apple’s first AI tablet.

With major computer brands and chip manufacturers competing to release AI PCs, such as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus, and Intel introducing Core Ultra into various laptop brands, it is imperative for Apple to upgrade the performance of its products. Therefore, the strategy of highlighting AI performance through the M4 chip comes as no surprise.

According to a report by Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, the M4 chip will be integrated across Apple’s entire Mac product line. The first batch of M4 Macs is said to be expected to debut as early as the end of this year, including new iMac models, standard 14-inch MacBook Pro, high-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini. New products for 2025 will also be released gradually, such as updates to the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air in the spring, updates to the Mac Studio in mid-year, and finally updates to the Mac Pro.

The report from Commercial Times has claimed that the M4 chip will come in three versions: Donan, Brava, and Hidra. The Donan variant is intended for entry-level MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and low-end Mac mini models. The Brava version is expected to be used in high-end MacBook Pro and Mac mini models, while the Hidra version will be integrated into desktop Mac Pro computers.

Apple’s plan to introduce the M4 chip into its Mac series is expected to boost the revenue of TSMC’s 3-nanometer family. The report has indicated that the M4 chip will still be manufactured using TSMC’s 3-nanometer process, but with enhancements to the neural processing engine (NPU), providing AI capabilities to Apple’s product line. Additionally, industry sources cited by the same report have revealed that the M4 will utilize TSMC’s N3E process, an improvement over the previous N3B process used in the M3 series chips.

Meanwhile, TSMC continues to advance its existing advanced process node optimization versions. Among them, the N3E variant of the 3-nanometer family, which entered mass production in the fourth quarter of last year, will be followed by N3P and N3X. Currently, N3E is highly likely to be featured in the new generation iPad Pro.

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(Photo credit: Apple)