Apple wants to force TSMC to make more modern chips at its new US factory

Produce an iPhone made in america is no longer completely a pipe dream for Apple. The Taiwanese TSMC, a long-time partner of the Apple firm, will soon open a gigantic chip factory in Arizona. With an estimated cost of $12 billion, this factory should be operational by 2024, according to Bloomberg.

In addition to repatriating jobs to the United States, it would allow Apple to diversify its supply channels. The forced closures of Chinese factories due to Covid must certainly have given food for thought.

Originally, the factory was to focus on the production of chips engraved in 5 nm, which still equip a good part of current high-end smartphones. But the market is changing fast and chips such as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and Gen 2, or the MediaTek Dimensity 9000, have already adopted a 4 nm engraving process.

The plant is not expected to be in operation when production of the next generation iPhone and iPad begins. According to Bloomberg (and the well-informed Mark Gurman), Apple knows that TSMC’s roadmap could cause a technological lag in its smartphones. The firm would therefore have put pressure on the Taiwanese to manufacture chips engraved in 4 nm as soon as the site opened.

The decision is all the more sensible since the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, which are very successful, already use an A16 Fusion chip engraved in 4 nm. TSMC has already committed to building another factory, right next to the main one, specializing in the development of 3 nm engraved chips.

A dynamic of industrial emancipation

Gurman says TSMC plans to produce up to 20,000 monthly wafers (the semiconductor wafers serving as a support for the etching). This figure may increase in the future.

Apple would use a third of the production for its own smartphones and tablets, the rest therefore always coming from the other Asian manufactures of the Taiwanese. But this first distancing from China represents a strong message from the Californian giant.

The official announcement should take place next Tuesday in Phoenix, the capital of Arizona. US President Joe Biden, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Apple CEO Tim Cook are expected to meet on this occasion. AMD and Nvidia executives could also be on board.