If Apple's new M6 SoC is anything to go by, next-gen 2nm PC chips are going to be awesome
Apple is early to the latest node, as usual.
Recent reviews of Apple's new M6 SoC reveal the chip to be exceptionally impressive, though it may not directly benefit PC gamers due to the limited game library and subpar game optimization of Macs. However, a crucial detail about the M6 is its utilization of TSMC's latest N2 silicon node. Historically, a new node has guaranteed improvements in transistor density, power efficiency, and lower costs. While modern Moore's Law has become inconsistent, Apple's M6 chip, built on TSMC's N2 node, demonstrates significant gains.
The M6 chip outperforms AMD's Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 and the previous Apple M5 in single-core Geekbench 6.7 and multi-threaded Cinebench benchmarks. It also offers 20% better performance per watt compared to the older M5 chip and is twice as efficient as AMD's Ryzen AI 9 HX 470. These advantages stem from the M6's 12 CPU cores, compared to the M5's 10 cores.
While it is uncertain when PC chips may benefit from TSMC's N2 silicon, AMD's Zen 6 CPUs, likely for servers, are already in production on the N2 node. If AMD's next-gen Zen 6 CPUs for PCs also use the N2 node, there will be a significant leap forward. Nvidia, on the other hand, may have to wait until at least 2030 for an N2 GPU, as its current Blackwell graphics chips are built on N4, and its next-gen Rubin GPUs are on N3.
Intel has been more proactive, using TSMC's N3 silicon since the launch of Lunar Lake in 2024 and potentially employing N2 in its upcoming Nova Lake family of CPUs, which will likely launch early next year. In conclusion, while N2 silicon may not arrive in the PC market soon, its potential benefits are undoubtedly promising.
Written by urgent.news from PC Gamer's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
