Apple Chip Supplier TSMC Celebrates Arizona Factory Nearing Completion
Apple chip supplier TSMC recently hosted a topping-out ceremony for its new fabrication plant in Phoenix, Arizona, DigiTimes reports.
TSMC's topping-out ceremony in ArizonaThe $12 billion factory will be the first of its kind to mass-produce 5nm chips in the United States. All of Apple's latest chips, dating back to the A14 Bionic and
M1 chip, are fabricated with a 5nm process. In a
post on LinkedIn, TSMC said:
Great progress continues on our 5-nanometer semiconductor fab – "FAB 21" – in #Phoenix, #Arizona. We recently celebrated placing the last beam – also known in the construction industry as a "topping" milestone - in FAB 21's fab building with our local partners. Over 4,000 attendees were on hand to enjoy this important moment including our own employees and partners. #TSMCArizona is on time and on track to bring the most advanced leading-edge semiconductor technology to the U.S.. We are deeply grateful to our partners and look forward to more successful milestones in Arizona.
Last year, TSMC Chairman Mark Liu announced that the company's Arizona plant will begin mass production in the first quarter of 2024. Likely clients for the chips made in the Arizona factory include Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Apple. The new Arizona plant will make it theoretically possible for Apple's 5nm custom silicon chips, to be manufactured within the United States for the first time.
Apple is rumored to move its custom silicon to a 3nm process starting with the M2 Pro or M3 chip. The iPhone 14 Pro's A16 chip is expected to continue being made with a 5nm process, so it is highly likely that Apple will still need a supply of 5nm chips from TSMC by early 2024 when the Arizona plant opens for mass-production.
TSMC's main factories are located in Taiwan, but it already operates a factory in Camas, Washington, as well as design centers in Austin, Texas and San Jose, California, meaning that the Arizona facility will be its second manufacturing site in the United States. Yesterday, it was reported that Apple is opening a new development site in Israel to develop future custom silicon chips for the Mac.
Popular Stories
Apple today released iOS 18.0.1 and iPadOS 18.0.1, the first updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating systems that debuted earlier in September. iOS 18.0.1 and iPadOS 18.0.1 come two weeks after the launch of iOS 18. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. According to Apple's release notes, the...
Apple is set to release iOS 18.1 in October, bringing the first set of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update marks a significant step forward in Apple's AI integration, offering a new Siri contextually-aware experience and a range of additional capabilities powered by on-device machine learning and large language models. There are a couple of handy new...
Apple is working on a new iPad mini that will "potentially" be released "by the end of 2024," according to a report today from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Last month, Gurman reported that Apple had "new iPads in the works," including an upgraded version of the iPad mini. At the time, he said the device was "on deck for Apple's October event" alongside the first M4 Macs. The wording in his...
Apple today released macOS Sequoia 15.0.1, the first update for the macOS Sequoia operating system. The 15.0.1 update comes a week after Apple first released macOS Sequoia 15. Mac users can download the macOS Sequoia update by using the Software Update section of System Settings. According to Apple's release notes, macOS Sequoia 15.0.1 fixes a bug that could cause the Messages app...
Now that it's been two weeks since the iPhone 16 models were released, we've been able to spend enough time with the new devices to share a more in-depth review on their performance, battery life, feature set, and more. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've been testing the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, but the gap between the Pro models and the standard iPhone 16...
Apple in October will release macOS Sequoia 15.1, bringing to Macs the first Apple Intelligence features such as Writing Tools, new Siri features, Smart Replies, and more. In addition, macOS 15.1 adds a handful of welcome tweaks and improvements to existing Mac capabilities. Here's what we can expect from the first major update to macOS Sequoia later this month. Note that Apple...
Amazon is hosting another Prime Day event this year, called Amazon Prime Big Deal Days and offering shoppers the first chance to save on holiday shopping from a major retailer. Similar to the first Prime Day, it will last for two days (October 8-9) and you can already find a large selection of early deals across Amazon's storefront, covering savings on tech, clothing, video games, groceries, and...
It's hard to believe we're already into October with the iPhone 16 launch behind us, but there's lots more still to come from Apple this year on both the hardware and software fronts. We're still expecting a number of Mac and perhaps some iPad updates in the very near future, while Apple Intelligence features are set to begin rolling out with iOS 18.1 and related operating system updates....
