TSMC starts volume production of 7nm chips with euv machines in March

Production on the 7nm platform (CLN7FF+) node is expected to reach high volume as soon as March. Not to mistake it, that would be the second generation production for 7nm chips-based on fabrication with EUV machines from ASML.

Sources within the Taiwanese tech industry have reported to DigiTimes that the volume production of the improved 7nm node, which the company calls CLN7FF +, starts at the end of March.  It is the first chip generation that TSMC will use euv machines for. According to DigiTimes, this year, TSMC will use eighteen of the thirty available EUV machines supplied by ASML.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is expected to kick off volume production of chips built using an enhanced 7nm with EUV node at the end of March, according to industry sources. ASML, which provides extreme ultraviolet (EUV) litho equipment, is looking to ship a total of 30 EUV systems in 2019. Of the units to be shipped, 18 have already been reserved by TSMC, the sources indicated. TSMC is also on track to move a newer 5nm node to risk production in the second quarter of 2019, the sources noted. The foundry will fully incorporate EUV in the 5nm node. EUV-based 7nm process, which will boost its total 7nm chip sales to account for 25% of total wafer sales this year compared with 9% in 2018.

TSMC already fabs chips on a 7nm for AMD and Apple.