(Yicai Global) Aug. 27 -- The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, continues to shrink its processors to new micro sizes and will soon be rolling out 3 nm and 4 nm chips, the general manager of TSMC Nanjing said yesterday.

The Hsinchu-based company will begin mass production of 4nm chips next year and 3nm chips in 2022, said Luo Zhengqiu at the 2020 World Semiconductor Conference in Nanjing. The smaller the size of the nanometer, the more processing power can be packed into a given space.

Compared with 5nm processors, TSMC’s 3nm chips can boost performance by between 10 percent and 15 percent and provide energy savings of between 25 percent and 30 percent, he added.

TSMC has invested more than USD3 billion in semiconductor research and development this year. The firm can mass produce 140 products made with its 7 nm chips and this number is expected to exceed 200 by the end of the year, Luo said. It has also improved the performance of its 5 nm processors.

China has been promoting the self-reliance of its integrated circuit industry in the face of ever stringent US sanctions. The country’s self-sufficiency rate was only 30 percent last year, the State Council said last week. The country’s cabinet recently issued supportive policies in finance and taxation, intellectual property rights and other areas to help the industry.

Editor: Kim Taylor