What is 5nm?

5nm refers to a 5-nanometer manufacturing process used in the production of integrated circuits (ICs), such as those found in CPUs, GPUs, and mobile phone processors. It signifies the size of the smallest feature (e.g., transistor gate length) that can be reliably created on the silicon wafer. Smaller process nodes like 5nm generally allow for more transistors to be packed into the same area, leading to increased performance, reduced power consumption, and improved energy efficiency compared to larger process nodes (e.g., 7nm, 10nm).