[News] TSMC Says 2nm More Sought after than 3nm; A16 Attractive for AI Server Clients

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TSMC has passed the test of the market with flying colors as it reported record high profit in the third quarter at the earnings call. By confirming that the AI demand is “real,” TSMC Chairman C.C. Wei stated that the foundry giant is expected to enjoy healthy growth over the next five years. But which node would be the one most clients show strong interest in?

According to the reports by the Economic Daily News and MoneyDJ, customer inquiries for 2nm are even higher than those for 3nm, while A16 is highly attractive for AI server applications.

TSMC’s 3nm has already shown robust momentum this year, as its shipments accounted for 20% of total wafer revenue in the third quarter, rising from 9% and 15% in the first and second quarter, respectively.

According to an industrial source cited by MoneyDJ, TSMC started the mass production of 3nm in 2022, while the 2nm is expected to enter volume production in 2025, indicating that the generation cycle for a node has been expanded to three years.

Thus, supported by TSMC’s major clients, the contribution from 3nm will continue to rise next year and remain a key revenue driver in 2026, while the 2nm process is expected to replicate or even surpass the success of 3nm, MoneyDJ notes. According to previous market speculations, tech giants such as Apple, NVIDIA and AMD are believed to be the first batch of TSMC’s 2nm customers.

Citing C.C.Wei, the Economic Daily News notes that the high-performance computing (HPC) applications demand more powerful processors, which accelerates the development of chiplet designs. However, the trend does not seem to impact the adoption of 2nm, and clients are showing even stronger interests for the node compared with 3nm.

And TSMC does plan to expand its 2nm capacity thanks to the strong demand, as the schedule of mass producing 2nm in 2025 remains on track.

According to a previous report from MoneyDJ, TSMC’s 2nm fabs in Hsinchu’s Baoshan and Kaohsiung will achieve a monthly capacity of approximately 30,000 to 35,000 wafers, respectively. By 2027, their combined capacity is set to exceed 100,000 wafers, marking the mainstream transition to the next generation of processes.

As for TSMC’s angstrom-level A16 process, it is creating a buzz even before mass production in 2026. Citing C.C.Wei’s remarks, the report by the Economic Daily News notes that the A16 is highly attractive for AI server applications, and TSMC is actively preparing the related production capacity to meet customer demand.

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