Apple to Buy TSMC's Entire Supply of 3nm Chips for 2023

L4sBot@lemmy.worldmod to Technology@lemmy.world – 254 points –
Apple to Buy TSMC's Entire Supply of 3nm Chips for 2023
macrumors.com

Apple to Buy TSMC's Entire Supply of 3nm Chips for 2023::Apple will receive all of TSMC's first-generation 3-nanometer process chips this year for upcoming iPhones, Macs, and iPads, according to...

31

You are viewing a single comment

My understanding is essentially Apple has enough money on hand and foresight of product demands that they can do things like tell a supplier that they’re going to buy everything well in advance and secure those deals before other manufacturers are willing to commit. Presumably, there’s nothing to stop Samsung from going to TSMC and saying they want to buy all the capacity for 2024, except that Samsung doesn’t feel confident about matching Apple’s sales volume on those upcoming products.

I’ve also heard Apple will also fund expansion of their suppliers when needed. If someone makes a thing that Apple wants but doesn’t have the capacity to meet Apple’s volume, Apple will provide what they need to increase capacity, along with providing commitments to purchase enough product that the manufacturer is taking on minimal risks from the expansion.

(Also, Samsung makes their own chips.)

Example holds up better with Google (for Pixel line).

Samsung makes their own chips but they also are one of the largest customers of chips from Qualcomm, mostly manufactured by TSMC.

isk the cellphone division of samsung is bigger than apple, google pixel i'm not sure

Yep, it's hard to hate on Apple in this case when they're just more prepared and willing to commit.

My theory is that Apple is running out of time before Intel hits real hard. Intel became very lazy sitting on their laurels, AMD stole part of the market and now Apple did too. But Intel still has a lot of talent and their 12-th and 13-th gen processors clearly show that the storm is coming. Apple needs to secure their market share before it's too late, so they're buying everything they can to become absolute leaders. They have a few years to establish themselves.