Employees Arrested Over Alleged Theft of Chip Tech for Apple A20 Chip

Several current and former TSMC employees have been accused of stealing proprietary information related to the company's 2-nanometer chip process, which is expected to debut in Apple's A20 chip for the iPhone 18 lineup (via the Financial Times).

TSMC is Apple's sole chip supplier. It today disclosed that it has identified and acted upon an internal security breach involving attempts to exfiltrate trade secrets concerning its next-generation 2-nanometer process technology.

TSMC referred the matter to Taiwanese authorities, resulting in the arrest of three individuals, including a current engineer, a former employee, and a third suspect whose connection to the company was not disclosed. TSMC uncovered the situation by noticing "unusual access patterns" within the company's internal system related to "critical" information about 2-nanometer chip development and production.

According to TSMC's official roadmap, the 2-nanometer node offers considerable gains in both performance and energy efficiency. The node introduces nanosheet transistor architecture, replacing the FinFET design used in prior generations.

TSMC claims this shift will enable a 10% to 15% speed improvement or a 25% to 30% reduction in power consumption compared to 3-nanometer, with similar or better density. Apple is widely expected to adopt the 2-nanometer process for the "A20" chip, which will likely be used across next year's ‌iPhone 18‌ lineup.