this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2026
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TSMC to make advanced 3nm chips in Japan (focustaiwan.tw)
submitted 22 hours ago by Beep@lemmus.org to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] craigers@lemmy.world 17 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Just a reminder for anyone that thinks 3nm chips means the transistors themselves are only 3nm, they are bigger than that. 3nm is the marketing name for the fab process they are using.

[–] kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

Close, except it's not a marketing term. It's part of a published IEEE standard.

The actual gate pitch and metal pitch vary by manufacturer and process type.

From Wikipedia:

The term "3 nanometer" has no direct relation to any actual physical feature (such as gate length, metal pitch, or gate pitch) of the transistors. According to the projections contained in the 2021 update of the International Roadmap for Devices and Systems published by IEEE Standards Association Industry Connection, a 3 nm node is expected to have a contacted gate pitch of 48 nanometers, and a tightest metal pitch of 24 nanometers.[12]

[–] craigers@lemmy.world 4 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

And the number keeps going down because... That's good marketing. IEEE rebranded 802.11ax as wifi 6 because... Marketing. They can do it too.

[–] Taldan@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago

IEEE rebranded 802.11ax as wifi 6 because… Marketing

Minor correction: The standard is IEEE, but it was developed by the WiFi Alliance (who make their money by certifying devices as meeting the WiFi 6 standard). It's a pretty fair marketing strategy though. Normal users aren't going to notice 802.11ac vs 802.11ax