Taiwan Semi To Build Apple’s Mac Chips
Bloomberg is reporting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., who already produces iPhone and iPad processors, will build the company’s new Mac chips, The components will be based on a 5-nanometer production technique, the same size Apple will use in the next iPhones and iPad Pros, one of the people said.
Money quotes from the Bloomberg piece:
- this news has negative longer-term implications for Intel, in-line with our concerns around Intel’s future market share (Intel reported earnings after the market close)
- the components will be based on a 5-nanometer production technique, the same size Apple will use in the next iPhones and iPad Pros
- Apple is designing more of its own chips to gain greater control over the performance of its devices and differentiate them from rivals
- The first Mac processors will have eight high-performance cores, codenamed Firestorm, and at least four energy-efficient cores, known internally as Icestorm
- Apple is exploring Mac processors with more than 12 cores for further in the future
- In some Macs, Apple’s designs will double or quadruple the number of cores that Intel provides
- Like Qualcomm Inc. and the rest of the mobile semiconductor industry, Apple designs its smartphone chips with technology from Arm Inc
- The transition to in-house Apple processor designs would likely begin with a new laptop
- Given work-from-home orders and disruptions in the company’s Asia-based supply chain, the shift could be delayed
- Despite a unified chip design, Macs will still run the macOS operating system, rather than the iOS software of the iPhone and iPad
