Although Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. formally started production of chips using its N3 (3nm-class) process technology back in late 2022, the company did not recognize any meaningful N3 revenue in Q1 and Q2. This week as part of the company's Q3 earnings announcement, the foundry finally recognized its first N3-related revenue, with N3 accounting for 6% of TSMC's Q3 revenue. Meanwhile, advanced nodes now account for 59% of TSMC's earnings.
For their first quarter of significant 3nm revenue, TSMC booked roughly $1.03 billion in income for the new node. To put the number into generational context, TSMC recognized its first N5 revenue in Q3 2020, where back then the technology accounted for $0.97 billion in revenue making 5nm-class chips – or about 8% of TSMC's revenue share.
