3nm M2 Pro Chip for MacBook Pro Reportedly Entering Production Later This Year

TSMC will begin production of 3nm chips for Apple by the end of 2022, according to a report this week from Taiwan's Commercial Times. A separate report from the publication claimed that TSMC will begin mass production of 3nm chips in September.

M2 Pro and Max Feature
The report, citing industry insiders, claims that the M2 Pro chip may be the first to use TSMC's advanced 3nm process. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously claimed that Apple plans to use the M2 Pro chip in the next 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models and a high-end Mac mini, which could be announced later this year or in the first half of next year.

Apple's A17 Bionic chip for next year's iPhone 15 Pro models and the M3 chip, suitable for future MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro models, will also be manufactured based on TSMC's 3nm process, according to the Commercial Times.

DigiTimes also previously reported that TSMC would begin volume production of 3nm chips for Apple in the second half of 2022, including the M2 Pro chip.

Apple transitioning from TSMC's 5nm process to its 3nm process would naturally result in faster performance and improved power efficiency for future Macs and iPhones, which could contribute to longer battery life. The high-end Mac mini and the Mac Pro tower are the only current Macs that have yet to switch over to Apple silicon chips.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro 14 & 16"
Related Forum: MacBook Pro

Top Rated Comments

JPack Avatar
23 months ago

No no, some user here, said to forget any 3nm until later next year 2023
I think even the M2 Max will be under 3nm, not just the M2 pro
TSMC CEO said not to expect revenue from 3nm until 2023, which means it won’t ship to customers until then. The wafer cycle time is more than 3 months, so even if TSMC started today, they wouldn’t be able to ship packaged and tested chips until next year.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cocky jeremy Avatar
23 months ago
Bring back the 17" MacBook Pro!
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gpat Avatar
23 months ago
The Macbook Pro is the Mac for which Apple has been showing the most commitment lately, in my opinion.
They really want to win back the creator audience after the 2016-era fiasco.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iAFC Avatar
23 months ago
That's the one I'm waiting for, in a purple iMac hopefully!
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
23 months ago
Nice to see it is on track. That's always great news.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JPack Avatar
23 months ago

Love when people say things like: "never, no chance, not gonna happen etc." That is a recipe for failure from the start.

In fact, if Intel dropped and TSCM has capacity then it may as well be this year. However, I would assume that M2 Mini and Mac Pro will come first so not sure Apple will want to throw MBP in the mix too. Seeing that Covid messed up the timing for Apple (and others) one could easily expect anything at this point.
TSMC CEO literally said it won’t be this year. It’s not about capacity. The R&D of N3 process was delayed. Mass production of a new process typically starts in the first half of the year. N3 hasn’t started today. Given wafer cycle times take more than 3 months, there is no chance of 3nm shipping this year.

Intel CEO is visiting TSMC this month because they want to postpone Meteor Lake due to design delays. But TSMC wants to continue as planned because they have the capacity.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

General Apps Messages

iMessage Down for Some Users [Update: Service Restored]

Thursday May 16, 2024 3:00 pm PDT by
The iMessage service that Apple users to send messages to one another appears to be down for some users, and messages are failing to go out or are taking an extra long time to send. There are numerous reports about the issue on social networks and a spike of outage reports on Down Detector, but Apple's System Status page is not yet reporting an outage. Update: Apple's status page says...
iOS 17

Troubling iOS 17.5 Bug Reportedly Resurfacing Old Deleted Photos

Wednesday May 15, 2024 5:29 am PDT by
There are concerning reports on Reddit that Apple's latest iOS 17.5 update has introduced a bug that causes old photos that were deleted – in some cases years ago – to reappear in users' photo libraries. After updating their iPhone, one user said they were shocked to find old NSFW photos that they deleted in 2021 suddenly showing up in photos marked as recently uploaded to iCloud. Other...
iphone 15 pro max vs iphone 16 pro max

iPhone 16 Pro Max Looks This Much Bigger Beside iPhone 15 Pro Max

Thursday May 16, 2024 4:51 am PDT by
This year's upcoming iPhone 16 Pro Max is expected to get a boost in overall size from 6.7-inches to 6.9-inches, and a new image gives us a good idea of how the current iPhone 15 Pro Max compares to what could be Apple's largest ever iPhone. The image above, posted on X by ZONEofTECH, shows a dummy model representing the ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ Max alongside an actual iPhone 15 Pro Max. Dummy...
iOS 17

iOS 17.5 Bug May Also Resurface Deleted Photos on Wiped, Sold Devices

Friday May 17, 2024 12:24 pm PDT by
A bug in iOS 17.5 is apparently causing photos that have been deleted to reappear, and the issue seems to impact even iPhones and iPads that have been erased and sold off to other people. A Reddit user wiped an iPad following Apple's guidelines in September of 2023 before selling it off to a friend. That friend updated the iPad to iPadOS 17.5 this week, and began seeing the Reddit user's old ...
oled m4 ipad pro grainy display reports

OLED iPad Pro Users Report 'Grainy' Displays, But It May Not Be a Defect

Friday May 17, 2024 5:57 am PDT by
Some new M4 iPad Pro models are exhibiting a visible static grain pattern across the OLED display, according to several user reports on Reddit (1, 2, 3) and the MacRumors Forums. Image credit: MacRumors user bk215 Users who see the grain generally report that it is most noticeable in dark environments with the display set at a low to medium brightness while viewing content with gray or muted...
Delta Hands On Feature

iPhone Emulators on the App Store: Game Boy, N64, PS1, PSP, and More

Thursday May 16, 2024 12:45 pm PDT by
In April, Apple updated its guidelines to allow retro game emulators on the App Store, and several popular emulators have already been released. The emulators released so far allow iPhone users to play games released for older consoles from Nintendo, Sony, SEGA, Atari, and others. A list of some popular emulators available on the App Store so far follows. Released Delta Delta is...