MediaTek Beats Apple to Announcing 3nm Chips
MediaTek this week announced that it had successfully taped out its first flagship smartphone system-on-chip using TSMC's 3nm-class fabrication process, which technically means it has beaten Apple to the first 3nm SoC. Based on the information disclosed by the SoC developer, we are dealing with an application processor set to be made on TSMC's N3E manufacturing technology, which makes it one of the industry's first chip to use this node.
Our focus is generally on PC hardware and mobile SoCs are generally not under our purview. That said, there are three aspects that matter in MediaTek's announcement: the fact that this is the industry's first officially disclosed N3E SoC, the announcement of a 3nm processor ahead of Apple, and MediaTek's relationship with Intel Foundry Services. Let's start with the most obvious one.
Beating Apple to 3nm
Formally, MediaTek beats Apple to the punch with a 3nm smartphone SoC, but there is a catch. Apple's 3nm mobile application processor is reportedly in mass production and is about to hit the market later this month when the company launches its iPhone 15 series. Meanwhile, MediaTek's next-generation Dimensity flagship will be made in 2024.
Being TSMC's primary customer, Apple uses the foundry's leading-edge process technologies ahead of its rivals and it is generally believed that TSMC has been making 3nm SoCs for Apple since late 2022 using its most advanced production node, N3B.
The First N3E SoC
TSMC has two 3nm-class fabrication processes: the baseline N3 (also known as N3B) that can feature up to 25 EUV layers and can use EUV double patterning for higher transistor density. TSMC's other, a simplified N3E that can use up to 19 EUV layers and is not supposed to use EUV double patterning. TSMC's N3 offers smaller SRAM cells compared to N5 and a bit higher logic transistor density, but N3E provides more aggressive power (-32%) and performance (+18%) improvements compared to N5. These are indeed characteristics that MediaTek mentioned about TSMC's 3nm node it uses, which clearly points to N3E.
Although Apple is taking advantage of a higher transistor density with N3B, N3E promises a wider process window and potentially better yields, which is of crucial importance for costs. TSMC plans to initiate high volume manufacturing (HVM) using N3E towards the end of 2023.
It is quite remarkable that MediaTek disclosed its N3E tape out ahead of other TSMC clients (e.g., AMD, Nvidia, Qualcomm), especially keeping in mind that developers of mobile SoCs do not tend to make such disclosures. The reasons why the company decided to do so are unknown.
What About IFS?
MediaTek signed a strategic pact with Intel to use its advanced process technologies for a range of chips for client devices in July, 2025. In fact, MediaTek was the only big fabless chip designer to ink such a deal with IFS and disclose it publicly.
MediaTek's 3nm-related announcement with TSMC comes as Intel Foundry Services intensifies its marketing push, so the announcement may be considered as a way to distract attention from IFS. Meanwhile, MediaTek has so far not made any announcements regarding its tape outs with Intel's foundry division, which may not exactly be surprising as MediaTek probably intended to use Intel's 20A and 18A production nodes in 2024 – 2025 and onwards rather than Intel's 4nm and 3nm-class technologies in 2023 – 2024.
