According to Mediatek's official website, in September, Mediatek announced that its first flagship system-on-chip (SoC) using TSMC's 2nm process has successfully completed the design tape-out, becoming one of the first companies to adopt this technology, and is expected to enter mass production by the end of next year. Mediatek's adoption of TSMC's 2nm process is brimming with cutting-edge technology. TSMC has for the first time introduced the nanosheet transistor structure (GAAFET) in the 2nm process, marking another major upgrade in transistor architecture since FinFET (Fin field-Effect Transistor). In the past, FinFETs were like building circuits on a flat surface, while nanosheet transistors are like constructing multi-story buildings vertically. They can accommodate more circuit components in a smaller space, significantly increasing the logic density of the chip.
Mediatek stated that it has been working with TSMC to jointly create high-performance and low-power chipsets in application fields such as flagship mobile platforms, computing, automotive, and data centers. This collaboration also symbolizes a new milestone in the solid partnership between the two sides.
TSMC's 2nm process technology adopts the Nanosheet transistor structure for the first time, which can bring superior performance, power consumption and yield. Mediatek's first chip using TSMC's brand-new 2nm process is expected to hit the market by the end of 2026. Compared with the existing N3E process, TSMC's enhanced 2nm process technology increases logic density by 1.2 times, boosts performance by up to 18% at the same power consumption, and reduces power consumption by approximately 36% at the same speed. Core achievements: Completed the world's first 2nm mobile chip tape-out, using TSMC's N2P process node, with a transistor density of 330 million /mm², a 15% increase over the current 3nm process.
Differentiation advantage: Integrated with the fourth-generation NPU architecture, it achieved 180TOPS computing power in the ResNet-50 model test, which is 40% higher than the latest flagship chips of competing products (such as Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen4).
Business value: According to IDC's forecast, the market size of high-end mobile phone chips will reach $28 billion in 2027. This product is expected to account for 4.3% of the share (approximately $1.2 billion), mainly from flagship models.
Dr. Zhang Xiaoqiang, Senior Vice President of Business Development, Global Business and Deputy Co-Operating Officer of TSMC, said that TSMC's 2nm technology marks an important step into the nanosheet era, demonstrating our unremitting efforts to meet customer needs. Through continuous adjustment and improvement of our technology, we provide high-performance computing capabilities. We continue to collaborate with Mediatek with the aim of maximizing performance and energy efficiency, covering a wide range of application fields.
Mediatek has always had its own technological accumulation and innovation. For instance, the "all-large core" architecture adopted by the Dimensity series chips performs exceptionally well in multi-tasking and complex computing scenarios. The continuous upgrading of NPU (Neural Processing Unit) has made the AI processing capabilities of chips also not to be underestimated. However, Mediatek also faces challenges. In terms of brand influence, Qualcomm and Apple have been deeply involved in the high-end market for many years, and their brand images have been deeply rooted in people's hearts. For Mediatek to completely change the brand impression of being "mid-to-low-end", it still needs time and further recognition from the market. In terms of the ecosystem, Apple's iOS ecosystem and Qualcomm's long-term accumulated advantages in the Android camp, such as software optimization and hardware adaptation, are also the directions that Mediatek needs to strive to catch up in. This is a major milestone for Mediatek in the development of chip technology and has also injected new vitality into the entire semiconductor industry. It not only indicates a significant improvement in the performance of terminal devices such as mobile phones, but also will have a profound impact on the market competition pattern. Although it is confronted with challenges such as cost and technological innovation, it also holds great opportunities.
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