Samsung Foundry started this whole thing, and TSMC CEO said during an investor conference their customers were asking for smaller nm because "another" foundry were using those numbers.
That's not consumer marketing. That's still B2B, except the audience is management instead of engineering as assumed in the GP. TSMC's customers are not consumers. Set up costs run into the millions of dollars.
After the whole gigahertz wars, there aren't many consumers that are savvy enough to know that you want fewer nanometers.
It’s “prosumer” marketing, for system builders who actually care about CPU bin numbers and serial numbers and stuff like that. There are both diy’ers and actual high-end PC vendors and system integrators in that category, and given they tend to spend more than the average consumer, probably can’t be ignored.
That's not consumer marketing. That's still B2B, except the audience is management instead of engineering as assumed in the GP. TSMC's customers are not consumers. Set up costs run into the millions of dollars.
After the whole gigahertz wars, there aren't many consumers that are savvy enough to know that you want fewer nanometers.
edit: quote for clarity