Apple is moving silicon sourcing to its home country as its partner starts producing Apple chips in their new Arizona factory. In Tuesday’s event held at TSMC’s first Arizona Fab (Semiconductor Fabrication Plant), Apple CEO, Tim Cook confirmed that the company will now buy Apple Silicon chips manufactured in the US.
Apple Silicon Chips Will Be Produced In The US
If you weren’t aware, Apple Silicon chips are currently made by TSMC and they are now opening factories in the US where they can manufacture the chips for Apple and other companies. While it starts with Apple, AMD has already shown interest in buying their chips from TSMC’s Arizona plants, and the number of companies sourcing their chips from the US is expected to go up soon.
During the event Apple CEO, Tim Cook said,
“Today we’re combining TSMC’s expertise with the unrivaled ingenuity of American workers. We are investing in a stronger brighter future, we are planting our seed in the Arizona desert. And at Apple, we are proud to help nurture its growth.”.
This can be huge for the company as it’ll save a lot of costs and most importantly, it can eventually resolve the massive supply chain shortages that have been happening for a while now. Of course, the one factory in Arizona won’t produce in massive quantities right away. Production will slowly ramp up, once more Fabs start functioning. These plants will produce 600,000 silicon wafers per year once they are fully functional.
Also Read: TSMC’s Price Increase May Affect Apple, NVIDIA, AMD, and Others
What Apple’s Home Chip Sourcing Means For Its Products
TSMC’s US plants will be capable of manufacturing the latest 3nm and 4nm fabrication-based chips which means it can produce all of the new Apple Silicon chips including the M2, A16 Bionic, and everything that’s coming next. Apple has faced huge supply gaps as Chinese factories shut down, and with the newer TSMC Fabs, the company can finally get that on track, reducing the wait time of their products for the customers, globally.
Right now the amount of US-produced chips is going to be just a fraction of what TSMC will be producing as a whole, but as manufacturing ramps up, we can expect Apple to only use homegrown chips in their products, in the near future. While that also means lower costs for the company, as they no longer need to import the chips from a different country, I won’t expect them to pass on those savings to the customers just yet.
It’s not just TSMC, even Intel is moving towards producing its chips in Arizona as well as in Ohio. So, American consumers will hopefully see a lot more products with “Made in America” silicon in the upcoming years. Even on a global scale, the US can become huge on silicon chip supplies, if it can keep up with the growing demands.
Source: CNBC
