The first smartphone chipsets mass produced on TSMC’s 2nm node will begin launching from next month, but that’s just a sliver of how popular the Taiwanese giant’s next-generation process has become. During the 2026 Japan Technology Symposium, TSMC’s Senior Vice President Kevin Zhang revealed that the 2nm lithography has acquired four times as many tape-outs as the previous-generation 3nm node, showing just how many companies are eager to gravitate to the advanced process.
The 2nm node’s popularity is welcome news for TSMC and AI firms, but bad news for Apple and everyone else
The first iteration of TSMC’s 2nm family, N2, began volume production in the fourth quarter of 2025, and after just two additional quarters, the manufacturing has contributed to 3 percent of the company’s wafer revenue, despite no commercial product being shipped. Fortunately, with Google’s Tensor G6 said to become the smartphone industry’s first 2nm SoC, followed by the A20 Pro found in the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, TSMC is riding a demand wave like no other.
The N2 node will eventually be succeeded by a slightly faster version called N2P, bringing in a 5 percent performance improvement. This process is said to be adopted by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro, along with MediaTek’s Dimensity 9600, with the objective being to obtain a competitive advantage over the A20 Pro, even if it’s a modicum one.
N2X is planned for 2027 and will be designed for high-end applications, with DigiTimes reporting that N2U is expected to enter mass production in 2028 and will also cater to mainstream products. While fulfilling smartphone companies’ orders makes up a small percentage of TSMC’s overall revenue, the majority of its 2nm customers will be AI GPU makers like NVIDIA.
Sure enough, they’ll want the entire supply for themselves, forcing TSMC to deal with the same supply choke as the 3nm one. This insatiable demand will force Apple to eventually abandon the 2nm process after just two generations, moving to 1.4nm to avoid any chip shortage risk that threatens to subdue its business. Unfortunately, Apple and the remaining smartphone brands aren’t expected to receive any preferential treatment from TSMC, as its priorities have gradually shifted towards non-smartphone companies.
About the author: Omar Sohail is a reporter and analyst for Wccftech's mobile section, specializing in the technology and business of the mobile industry. His expertise lies in the intricate hardware supply chain, covering developments in semiconductor manufacturing, chip lithography, and camera sensor technology.
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