Apple is reportedly TSMC’s biggest chip customer for this year

TSMC is getting ready to roll out its improved 3nm node for a bunch of partners this year. Some of these partners are Apple’s rivals, but TSMC is set to make the most money from Apple. A new report says that TSMC’s orders from Apple are going up by 50 percent. This is probably because Apple is planning to mass-produce several SoCs this year using TSMC’s top-of-the-line manufacturing process.

The A18 series for the iPhone 16 family will not only be mass-produced on the next-gen ‘N3E’ process but will also feature a significantly improved Neural Engine. This will result in better generative AI features. Previous info mentioned that the new 3nm chipset will be used in all upcoming iPhone models, marking the first time the A-series range will be mass-produced using the same lithography.

A previous benchmark showed that the A18 Pro’s multi-core performance wasn’t great. However, the leak suggests that there might be a standard A18 made for the more affordable iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus.

Either way, these new chip launches will only happen if Apple orders a lot of 3nm chips from TSMC. According to Economic Daily News, the Taiwanese company is expected to get a 50 percent increase in orders.

This means that Apple will likely be TSMC’s biggest customer in 2024. The A18 and A18 Pro chips will make up a big part of the shipments, but the company’s M3 chip is also expected to be used in different products, like the new OLED iPad Pro models and the updated MacBook Air series.

In the third quarter of 2023, TrendForce said that TSMC’s 3nm manufacturing process only made up 6 percent of the company’s total revenue. But with more orders coming in, that number should go up by a lot.

The semiconductor giant is planning to increase its 3nm production to 100,000 units per month by the end of 2024. This means they’re not just focusing on fulfilling orders for Apple, but also for other customers.