Liu said he had more than 20 customers lined up for the 7nm process, which will target production for both mobile and high-performance computing applications.

Volume production of 7nm is planned for 2018, which is pretty much the time table we expected. What is interesting is that it is all working according to plan, at least according to Liu.

He added that TSMC has been engaged in the development of 5nm process technology. He expects to ramp its 5nm process, which will also target mobile products and high-performance computing, in 2019.

Meanwhile we should see volume production using the 10nm process for mobile devices at the end of 2016, Liu added.