- Apple secures early access to TSMC's 2nm chip tech.
- 2nm chips promise faster speeds and longer battery life.
- Apple rumored to develop AI chips for data centers.
Apple has made a major move to maintain technological dominance by getting a head start in TSMC, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s upcoming 2nm chip manufacturing process.
This move comes from a secret meeting between Apple’s Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams and TSMC’s President C. C. Wei. This has caused industry experts to believe that the company is planning to monopolize production capacity for its future A-series and M-series chips and its new line of AI processors.
Apple and TSMC Partnership
The partnership between the iPhone maker and semiconductor company has been a long-standing success story. Last year, TSMC could only produce 3nm chips for Apple’s devices, which helped the iPhone 15 Pro become the first mass-produced smartphone with a 3nm chip – the A17 Pro. This enabled the iPhone 15 Pro to perform above expectations compared to its competitors.
Moving from 7nm to 2 nanometers is a major leap in semiconductor manufacturing. This will lead to increased performance and power efficiency of these chips by further increasing the density of their transistors. This would lead to faster processing speeds, longer battery life, and potentially slimmer designs for the next iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
The tech giant also has other plans besides making mobile devices. There are rumors that the company is also launching custom AI chips for data centers that will power AI-based services in the cloud.
The use of these AI chips would improve the privacy of users and the speed of processing. Apple’s strategy will be to use both its devices and data centers for AI processing. These centers would first work with the existing M2 Ultra chip which is 5nm in Apple’s high-end Macs before transforming to the 2nm chips.
Related
TSMC said it would begin volume production of 2nm chips in the second half of 2025. However, it means that these chips may be integrated into the iPhone 17 series or the later generations of M-series processors for Macs and iPads. This strategic move thus enables Apple to be ahead in the chip technology game and thus create a competitive advantage over its competitors in the future.
Apple’s early access to TSMC’s 2nm process further reaffirms its role as a dominant processor in mobile and data center segments. This move is not only a testament to Apple’s continuing efforts in the field of innovation but also marks the beginning of a new generation of high-performance smartphones.
