TSMC says it has 300-400 engineers working on a 3nm process

Speaking at a recent event in Hsinchu, Taiwan, TSMC co-CEO Mark Liu remarked that TSMC will continue to keep Moore's Law alive by focusing on innovation.
He reiterated that TSMC is currently mass producing 16nm chips, 10nm chips are expected to enter volume production by the end of the year and the first risk production of 7nm products is expected in early 2017.

Interestingly, Liu also revealed a couple of tidbits about what follows beyond the 7nm process. He said TSMC is engaged in the development of 5nm process technology, and added that they already have about 300-400 engineers working on R&D for the 3nm process.

The foundry also sees a path to 2nm process technology and expects to team with academics to achieve the necessary breakthroughs.

Smartphones will continue to provide growth momentum for TSMC in the future, Liu noted. With new smartphones coming with more innovative features, the number of ICs and sensors will continue to grow. Meanwhile, chipmakers will have to constantly upgrade their technologies for the manufacture of advanced ICs and sensors for phones, Liu said. High-performance computing (HPC), Internet of Things (IoT) and system integration are also the applications that will drive TSMC's future growth, Liu indicated.