The 28nm process is still popular and costs only a tenth of that of 3nm
With 3nm on the horizon, do you think the old process will be useless? Now the chip OEM price is rising, the design costs of manufacturers, EDA software, optical cover and other supporting software and hardware are rising, and the OEM price of the next generation of 3nm chip will rise to more than $20,000, if the order quantity is small, the price will be even higher, so that the overall cost of 28nm chip may only be 1/10 of the current most advanced technology, the gap is huge.
Of course, the 28nm process is no longer capable of making high-end chips, but it is still useful for automotive chips, IoT chips, power management chips, sensors and other chips. After all, there are a large number of 90nm to 55nm products on the market, and the need to upgrade to 28nm is high.
Because of this, 28nm will remain a key destination for major foundry companies even after 10 years of mass production. TSMC will still generate $5.41 billion in revenue from 28nm processes in 2021, accounting for almost a tenth of the company's revenue and three-quarters of the total 28nm foundry market.