Lao Huang’s answer was somewhat surprising, from Samsung 8N to TSMC 4N, the microscopic level of improvement is about 15%, but very, unfortunately, the cost increase is more than 15%.
The response from Huang was that gains were surprisingly modest. “Processed generationally from 8N to 4N, that process gain was probably about 15%. But unfortunately, the cost goes up by more than 15%,” he explained.
Huang commented that the differences between Samsung N8 and TSMC 4N they were from one +15% scalability approximately, what we understand as higher density versus higher frequencies, but at the same time and to everyone’s misfortune, the cost increase is greater than 15%.