A new supply chain report hints at Apple using TSMC’s 3nm process to bring the M3 Ultra to consumers in 2024 alongside the debut of a brand new Mac Studio.
We’ve been waiting for news on a new generation of the top tier of Apple’s silicon since the company introduced the M3 and A17 Pro using TSMC’s 3nm process last year.
According to TrendForce, via South Korean outlet The Elec, “Several chip companies are expected to adopt the N3E process for their new products. The report suggests that TSMC’s customers for this process may include Qualcomm, which is gearing up to launch the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, MediaTek with its next-generation Dimensity 9400, Apple with its M3 Ultra chip and A18 Pro processor, AMD with the Zen 5 CPU and RDNA 4 GPU, and NVIDIA with the Blackwell architecture GPU. Notably, the Apple M3 Ultra chip might make its debut in the upgraded Mac Studio around mid-year.”
We’ve not seen a new Mac Studio since its initial release in 2022, and currently, the small desktop powerhouse is only available with Apple’s M2 Max and M2 Ultra chips, built on an older generation of 5nm chips.
What could the M3 Ultra bring?
The M3 and M3 Max chips in Apple’s latest computers, like the 16-inch MacBook Pro, are absolute powerhouses dominating the portable computing landscape. While we’ve not heard much about the M2 Max, we can expect to see it build on the incredible performance of the M2 Ultra, giving those who need it even more CPU power.
Geekbench results show that the M3 Max outperforms the M2 Ultra, so it’s about time Apple introduces a new flagship chip with the M3 moniker. This report suggests a release date around WWDC 2024, so be sure to keep an eye out on iMore’s coverage as we start building towards a huge year for Apple, which is likely to start with the Vision Pro headset release later this month.
