Chip manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is reportedly about to ramp up R&D for sub-2 nanometer (nm) chip manufacturing processes.

Business Korea reports that the company has begun work to develop a 1.4-nm chip fabrication process.

Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC will reportedly convert its 3-nm process R&D team into a 1.4-nm process R&D team in June.

The company hasn’t made any official announcement about the move, but may reveal more information at its Technology Symposium in mid-June. Tom’s Hardware predicts that, based on the company’s previous three-year cadence for the introduction of new node technology, we could see TSMC's 1.4 nm process to be used for commercial products starting in 2028.

Companies such as Samsung and TSMC’s smallest currently available chips are 5nm nodes, which entered production around 2019/2020.

TSMC plans to put a 3nm semiconductor node into volume production by the second half of 2022, with Samsung and Intel’s versions due in 2023 and 2024 respectively for volume production.

TSMC began research on 2nm in 2019 and began building a R&D lab for the technology in 2020. According to a recent Tom’s Hardware report, the technology will be ready for production around 2024 and for high-volume manufacturing (HVM) towards the end of 2025. Customers should receive their first N2-based chips in 2026.

Samsung also expects to start the mass production of 2nm chips in 2025. Intel has said it could reach 2nm production in 2024, but also said it will use TSMC’s 2nm chips.