TSMC says 1.4nm chip process is on track for 2028

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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. used its second-quarter 2026 earnings conference on Thursday to deliver an upbeat assessment of its next-generation chipmaking roadmap, confirming that its A14 (1.4nm-class) process is progressing smoothly toward risk production in 2027 and mass production in 2028.

Chairman and CEO C.C. Wei told investors that internal product validation for A14 shows transistor performance approaching 90 percent of its target — a milestone that places development well ahead of where the company’s N2 node stood at the same stage. Wei said the process has attracted strong customer interest from both the smartphone and high-performance computing AI markets, and that A14’s eventual production scale is expected to surpass that of the 2nm process. Ffocustaiwan Ttrendforce

TSMC says 1.4nm chip process is on track for 2028

A14 Performance Gains

A14 represents TSMC’s second-generation nanosheet transistor technology. Compared with the N2 node, it delivers a 10–15 percent speed improvement at the same power, a 25–30 percent reduction in power consumption at the same speed, and a nearly 20 percent increase in logic density. The process will not require High-NA EUV lithography, instead relying on standard NA EUV with advanced patterning techniques. Ttrendforce Ssemiwiki Ffocustaiwan

Wei noted that developing next-generation nodes now takes five to seven years from initial work through high-volume manufacturing, with “no shortcuts available”. Following A14, TSMC plans to begin commercial production of the A13 and A12 processes in 2029. Ffocustaiwan Ttrendforce

2nm Node Draws Unprecedented Customer Activity

Separately, TSMC revealed that its 2nm process family has attracted four times as many customer tape-outs as the previous-generation 3nm node, according to Senior Vice President Kevin Zhang’s presentation at the 2026 Japan Technology Symposium. The N2 node, which entered volume production in the fourth quarter of 2025, has already contributed 3 percent of TSMC’s wafer revenue despite no commercial product yet shipping to end users. Ssemiwiki Wwccftech

The disclosure underscores the breadth of commercial interest driving TSMC’s advanced nodes, with AI accelerator makers, smartphone designers, and HPC customers all competing for capacity. TSMC guided third-quarter 2026 revenue to between $44.6 billion and $45.8 billion, which would mark its strongest quarter ever, fueled in part by the 2nm ramp. Ddigitimes