TSMC

Apple chip supplier TSMC recently hosted a topping-out ceremony for its new fabrication plant in Phoenix, Arizona, DigiTimes reports. TSMC's topping-out ceremony in Arizona The $12 billion factory will be the first of its kind to mass-produce 5nm chips in the United States. All of Apple's latest chips, dating back to the A14 Bionic and M1 chip, are fabricated with a 5nm process. In a post on...

Apple is likely to face further increased chip prices as supplier TSMC contends with additional increased costs, Bloomberg reports. Japanese chemicals firm Showa Denko K.K. supplies vital chip fabrication materials to TSMC and is now being forced to drastically increase prices on the back of the global chip shortage. Other component makers and material suppliers are making similar moves in...

Apple chip supplier TSMC will begin production of advanced 2nm chips by 2025, in what is likely to contribute to a key future iteration of Apple silicon, Nikkei Asia reports. TSMC made the announcement at an industry event on Thursday, explaining that its 2nm technology will be based on "nanosheet transistor architecture." Nanosheet architecture is a totally different chip technology from...

The iPhone 14 Pro's "A16" chip may be a minor upgrade over the iPhone 13's A15 Bionic and there are growing questions around the nature of the "M2" chip, according to reputable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Earlier this week, the leaker known as "ShrimpApplePro" postulated that the A16 chip for the ‌iPhone 14‌ Pro models will be manufactured with the same process as the ‌iPhone‌ 13's A15...

The "A16" chip for the iPhone will reportedly be manufactured with the same process as the iPhone 13's A15 Bionic, with Apple saving a bigger performance leap for the "M2" chip designed for its next-generation Macs. Meanwhile, the company is working on a "final" M1 chip variant that uses more powerful cores from the A15, according to the leaker known as "ShrimpApplePro." In a thread on...

Apple chip supplier TSMC is exploring the potential of building a new factory in Singapore to help address the global chip shortage, the Wall Street Journal reports. TSMC is Apple's sole chip supplier and is responsible for fabricating all of the company's custom silicon chips, such as the A15 Bionic and the M1. While Apple's chip orders have been prioritized over many other companies,...

Intel is considering manufacturing its 14th Gen Core "Meteor Lake" CPUs at least partly using TSMC's 5nm process to mirror Apple's M1 series of chips, DigiTimes reports. Announced last year, Intel's Meteor Lake chips will be its first multi-chiplet design to integrate an application processor, graphics processing unit, and connection chips into a single Intel Foveros advanced package....

Chip supplier TSMC's Apple business is predicted to grow almost 25 percent this year as the transition to Apple silicon nears completion and the two companies grow closer ties, DigiTimes reports. Apple is said to be expecting shipments of chips for new iPhones and other devices from TSMC in the first half of June, according to sources speaking to DigiTimes. In addition to year-on-year growth ...

Apple could adopt the 2nm process for its iPhone and Mac chips as early as 2025 as the company's main chip supplier, TSMC, has set in motion a plan to produce that process in the early parts of that year, DigiTimes reports. All of Apple's latest chips feature the 5nm process, including the A15 Bionic in the ‌iPhone‌ 13 series and the entire M1 Apple silicon line. According to a new DigiTimes ...

Apple chipmaking partner TSMC says it will be ready to move its 3nm chip process to volume production in the second half of this year, putting it on track to supply Apple with the next-generation technology in 2023 (via DigiTimes). "We expect the ramp of N3 to be driven by both HPC [high performance computing] and smartphone applications," said Wei during an April 14 earnings conference call....

Samsung and Oppo are planning to transition to custom silicon chips to rival Apple's A-series chips in the iPhone, according to recent reports. Earlier this year, Chinese smartphone brand Oppo launched its first custom silicon chip, the MariSilicon X image processor, in the Find X5. Now, the company's chip design team is developing an application processor (AP) and an entire custom System on ...

Demand for consumer electronics like smartphones and PCs is slowing due to continued geopolitical uncertainties and new COVID-related lockdowns in China, according to TSMC Chairman Mark Liu. TSMC, or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, is one of Apple's main suppliers, responsible for the A-series and M-series chips that go in Apple devices. Liu's comments were delivered at the...

The iPhone 14 could offer better battery life and feature Wi-Fi 6E connectivity thanks to a new 5G chip, supply chain sources claim. Taiwan's Economic Daily News reports that TSMC has obtained all of Apple's orders for its 5G radio frequency (RF) chips for the ‌iPhone 14‌ lineup, taking over from Samsung. The chips, likely related to Apple's selection of Qualcomm's Snapdragon X65 modem, are...

Apple was granted 2,541 patents in the United States last year, surpassed by only six other companies, IFI Claims reports. In its rankings of the top 50 U.S. patent assignees in 2021 (via Patently Apple), IFI Claims Patent Services shows that Apple was granted 250 fewer patents in 2021 compared to the previous year, a nine percent decrease. Even so, Apple moved one place up the rankings in...

Apple's strict environmental goals are putting pressure on the company's global supply chains, DigiTimes reports. In a paywalled report, ‌DigiTimes‌ claims that Apple's goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030 is putting pressure on its supply chain, with major suppliers such as TSMC scrambling to meet the company's demands. Sources speaking to ‌DigiTimes‌ said that TSMC was making slow...

TSMC plans to begin commercial production of chips built on its 3nm process in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to industry sources cited by DigiTimes. The full report has yet to be published, so no additional details are available at this time. Apple is expected to release its first devices with 3nm chips fabricated by TSMC in 2023, including Macs with M3 chips and iPhone 15 models...

Intel is looking to develop a closer relationship with TSMC, Apple's largest and most important chip supplier, to avoid possible clashes with the Cupertino tech giant over TSMC's 3nm chip production, according to DigiTimes. Yesterday, we reported on TSMC beginning pilot production of its ‌3nm‌ process that will eventually be used in future Apple silicon Macs. Apple currently uses a 5nm...

Apple's chipmaking partner TSMC has kicked off pilot production of chips built on its 3nm process, known as N3, according to Taiwanese supply chain publication DigiTimes. The report, citing unnamed industry sources, claims that TSMC will move the process to volume production by the fourth quarter of 2022 and start shipping 3nm chips to customers like Apple and Intel in the first quarter of...

Apple's main chip manufacturing partner TSMC will beginning producing Apple's first in-house 5G modem chips for the iPhone in 2023, according to a report from Nikkei Asia. The move, which has been under development for several years and enhanced by Apple's 2019 acquisition of the majority of Intel's modem business, will allow Apple to shift away from Qualcomm as a supplier for the important chips ...

Apple will debut its rumored custom-designed 5G modem in 2023's iPhone models and the component will not be integrated into the device's A-series chip, DigiTimes reports. In paywalled report published earlier today, sources speaking to ‌DigiTimes‌ said that 2022 will be the last year when Qualcomm supplies all of the modems in ‌iPhone‌ models. Thereafter, iPhones are expected to begin...