3nm, Which Was Robbed Like Crazy

TSMC bites into AI business opportunities, and when advanced processes are receiving orders, the industry observes that the inventory of the smartphone market has recently recovered to health, not only the iPhone 17 series chasing orders continues, but also the good news of non-Apple brand high-end models, which has helped MediaTek, Qualcomm and other mobile phone processor manufacturers to stabilize their flagship chip shipments, and inject TSMC's 3nm prosperity.

TSMC has always not commented on single customer information. However, TSMC Chairman Wei Zhejia recently said bluntly in response to a question from a legal person about smartphone inventory at the legal conference: "I am not worried about prebuild", mainly because the current inventory has returned to a very seasonal and healthy level. The relevant conversations reassured the industry and gave the growth of the consumer application market in 2026.

The industry pointed out that Apple was the first brand to receive good news about smartphone sales, and the iPhone 17 series was better than expected and began to place additional orders for the supply chain. The iPhone 17 series is equipped with a new generation of A19 and A19 Pro chips, both of which use TSMC's latest third-generation 3nm process, and as Apple chases orders, TSMC's 3nm family order momentum continues to be strong.

In addition, MediaTek previously released its latest flagship chip, Dimensity 9500, which also fully adopts TSMC's third-generation 3nm process, and has been adopted by a number of non-Apple brands, with high sales popularity. Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 mobile platform using TSMC's 3nm process has been introduced by major non-Apple manufacturers such as Samsung and OPPO, and TSMC's advanced process has been shipped with a machine-sea tactical synchronization belt.

As the sales of Apple and non-Apple customers rise, TSMC's smartphone penetration rate is expected to reach a new high. Research firm Counterpoint Research believes that TSMC has an unshakable position in the field of advanced chip manufacturing, and it is expected that TSMC's smartphone system-on-chip (SoC) market share in 5nm and below (including 3nm and 2nm) will reach 87% in 2025 and increase to 89% in 2028.

As major manufacturers such as Apple, Qualcomm and MediaTek rely on TSMC's leading processes, and expect one-third of smartphone chips to be introduced to the 3nm and 2nm nodes by 2026, reaching an important milestone.

TSMC previously predicted that AI-related demand will remain strong in 2025, while non-AI-related end markets have bottomed out and shown a moderate recovery.

The legal person is optimistic that with the stabilization of the high-end smartphone market and the dawn of the consumer market, TSMC's 3nm family order momentum continues to be strong, and the relatively weak 6/7nm capacity utilization rate of previous orders is also expected to increase simultaneously.