Apple M5 Pro Tapes Out on TSMC N3P

Summary

Supply chain sources confirm Apple's M5 Pro SoC has completed tape-out on TSMC's N3P process. The chip features 14-core CPU (10P+4E), 20-core GPU, and a 40 TOPS Neural Engine — double the M4 Pro's NPU performance.

So What? — Market Impact

The 40 TOPS NPU brings the M5 Pro above the threshold for the most demanding on-device AI workloads — real-time video understanding, local LLM inference (7B-13B parameter models). This puts pressure on Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite Gen 2 and Intel's Arrow Lake-H.

Sources

9to5Mac: "M5 Pro benchmark leak"

Bloomberg: Mark Gurman's Apple silicon roadmap update