Before we go any further; yes, the global chip shortage phenomenon is still a thing. Yes also, things are recovering, and it is looking much better now than last year, at least. Yes, 5nm chips are also already mighty impressive, the most powerful mobile devices are powered by 5nm chips.  

The Apple M1 chips and its variant powering all kinds of things are also 5nm chips, technically the most advanced computing solution you can find today. They introduced the M2 chip, also a 5nm chip to power their next generation devices, The most powerful mobile chip today, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is built on the 5nm process too, and it is technically the most technologically impressive integrated processing chip made for smartphones today. 

This leads us to a question. What could possibly be better? How could anyone top off 5nm in the current generation? Is 4nm even possible? Turns out, it is. But Samsung did not just stop there, they went ahead and did one better with 3nm. 

Ahead of their closest rival in chip making, Samsung has kickstarted their 3nm fabrication line just today. If this goes into Samsung’s next generation Exynos, the Exynos chips will be the most advanced integrated processing chips the world has ever seen. That is also if there is no pushback from TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.).  

TSMC’s foundries are responsible for more than half the world’s supply of chips. You can find TSMC produced chips in Apple devices, and more than half the Android devices in the world today with Qualcomm relying mostly on the Taiwanese foundry. They are expected to start their 3nm mass production as well later this year.  

Currently though, the only reference for 3nm chips is from Samsung. They say that 3nm chips are now 45% more efficient than 5nm chips. Samsung also says that 3nm chips are 23% more powerful comparatively.  

While this is a good step in the right direction for the technological world, it could mark a more important step in the chip industry. While the 3nm fabrication process could be more intensive and expensive than before, smaller more efficient chips could lower the strain on the entire global supply chain. Then again, it really depends on the overall demand for 7nm, 5nm, and 3nm chips in the current market.  

While Samsung has started their mass production efforts, and TSMC is looking to start their own 3nm production soon, we will not be seeing devices coming with 3nm chips anytime soon. You can expect 3nm chips to star in devices starting 2023, if we are lucky enough. Still, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 is coming soon, and we are still excited about that.