For MacBook, iPad & Vision Pro: Apple’S M5, it should be stacked for the first time like AMDS X3D-CPUS 47 comments
Apple has already started abroad with mass production of the M5. The new chip is manufactured at TSMC, but in a new 3nm process. For the first time, it is also expected to rely on SOIC to accumulate tokens. However, the new MacBook Pro, iPad Pro and Vision Pro are only expected towards the end of the year.
M5 uses TSMC’s N3P
According to reports from Korean ETNews, TSMC’s improved 3nm N3P process is to be used and the M5 chip is also expected to bring 5-10% more efficiency and 5% more power. Crafting improvements will be low as a result.
The current M4 also relies on a 3nm process, but still from last spring 2024. The sister models M4, M4 Pro and M4 Max from autumn 2024, as in the MacBook Pro with M4 (test) and Mac Mini with M4 with M4 Pro (test) are also used, therefore also rely on the N3E procedure from TSMC. Apple However, it generally does not provide any information on specific manufacturing processes and often only relies on the size of the input process which can still include multiple manufacturing processes. Exact process information is therefore often based on assumptions.
Chiplet design of M5 Pro?
In the recent past, there have also been rumors that Apple is for the first time doing away with a monolithic design and manufacturing SOC components like the GPU or CPU separately. For the M5 Pro Soll Apple For the first time, apply the SOIC MH process and therefore use a 2.5D packaging process to combine multiple chips vertically on one package. The best-known SOIC solution in the PC segment is AMDS X3D technology, which gives special processors a service boost via the recently subordinated L3 cache.
As a result, the jump in performance due to production is likely small, but due to the modified architecture and structure, larger CPU or GPU styles may be possible, which offer more power in the overall package. So far, however, there are no concrete performance expectations for the M5 (Pro). The focus of the M5 could primarily be on AI.
M5 packaging has begun
According to Etnews, the M5 is to be filled by partner ASE in Taiwan since last month. The M5 dies from TSMC will also be handled shortly in the United States and China.
New products only later in the year
However, the alleged start of mass production of the M5 initially raises questions: because the new models of the iPad Pro, MacBook Pro and Vision Pro are not expected in the coming months. Bloomberg instead predicts a new iPad Pro with an M5 chip for the end of the year, and a Vision Pro with M5 chip is not yet expected until the fall.
If the start of production still happens, Apple could also simply pre-produce it to avoid subsequent tariffs from the Trump administration through early imports.
Topics: Apple Silicon
Apple Vision Pro iPad Pro MacBook Processors Source: Etnews.com
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