Apple Orders M5 Chips From TSMC Ahead of Late 2025 Production

[MacRumors]

Apple has ordered M5 chips from TSMC as the company begins production development of its next-generation processor for future devices, reports Korean-language outlet The Elec citing Taiwanese media.

The M5 series is expected to feature an enhanced ARM architecture and will reportedly be manufactured using TSMC's advanced 3-nanometer process technology. Apple's decision to forgo TSMC's more advanced 2nm process for the M5 chip is believed to be primarily due to cost considerations. Despite this, the M5 will feature significant advancements over the M4, notably through the adoption of TSMC's System on Integrated Chip (SoIC) technology.

This 3D chip-stacking approach enhances thermal management and reduces electrical leakage compared to traditional 2D designs. Apple is said to have expanded its cooperation with TSMC on the next-generation hybrid SoIC package, which also combines thermoplastic carbon fiber composite molding technology. The package reportedly entered a small trial production phase in July.

Apple's forthcoming M5 chip is anticipated to bring significant enhancements in performance and efficiency across various devices. Production could begin as early as the second half of 2025, with the first M5-equipped devices potentially launching by the end of next year or early 2026. Assuming Apple maintains its typical upgrade cycle for its custom silicon, here are the devices we're expecting to benefit first:

• iPad Pro: M5 chips could debut in the devices in late 2025 or early-to-mid 2026.
• MacBook Pro: Models featuring M5 series chips are anticipated in late 2025.
• MacBook Air: M5 variants will likely arrive in early 2026.
• Apple Vision Pro: An updated version of the headset incorporating the M5 chip is expected between the fall of 2025 and spring of 2026.

References to what are believed to be Apple's M5 chip have already been discovered in official Apple code. According to one report, thanks to its dual-use SoIC design, Apple also plans to deploy the M5 chip within its AI server infrastructure to bolster AI capabilities across both consumer devices and cloud services.

Today's report reinforces Apple's continued reliance on TSMC as its exclusive chip manufacturing partner. The Taiwanese foundry has been crucial to Apple's successful transition away from Intel processors beginning in 2020, with the company unable to produce its custom chips without TSMC's advanced manufacturing capabilities.

Article Link: Apple Orders M5 Chips From TSMC Ahead of Late 2025 Production

 

[MayaUser]

since it will be last 3nm , this M5 is 2025 thing for sure

 

[The Cockney Rebel]

Yearly updates of Macs is a bit too much.

 

[frogleader12]

Yearly updates of Macs is a bit too much.

more updates is always good, we get more performance improvements
the problem is your FOMO

 

[lmddawson]

Yearly updates of Macs is a bit too much.

This forum will always find something to complain about.

 

[nikitadyatko]

MacBook Air M4 is quite late this time, according to rumors it's going to be almost a year after M4 was introduced in the iPad. So I wonder how this relates to MacBook Air M5 release

 

[redbeard331]

This 3D chip-stacking approach enhances thermal management and reduces electrical leakage compared to traditional 2D designs. Apple is said to have expanded its cooperation with TSMC on the next-generation hybrid SoIC package, which also combines thermoplastic carbon fiber composite molding technology. The package reportedly entered a small trial production phase in July.

Ordered.

Apple's decision to forgo TSMC's more advanced 2nm process for the M5 chip is believed to be primarily due to cost considerations.

Cancelled my order.

 

[PhoenixAnhart]

Apple. Stop putting the damn chips in new iPads. It's overkill and the Macs need it infinitely more.

 

[henryhbk]

more updates is always good, we get more performance improvements
the problem is your FOMO

Partly, but since they have confusing model identifying it’s kinda hard for average consumers to know what they are getting. The notion of a machine being the “late 20xx model” is a very weird way to identify the machines’ capabilities (oh and toss in the word-salad grenade of pro, max and your grandmother has no idea what she owns) [I made that joke when I was a developer at IBM, and one older guy in the room was like “hey, I’m a grandfather, and I was the original lead memory bus engineer on the 360 - note I was only redeemable in his eyes when I noted my first real dev job was writing assembly language I/o drivers for a 3090-600” so ok for a “typical grandma” then]

note (nerd out trigger warning): for those too young to know about the 360 assembler, why that redeemed my ageist [I am gray haired myself] comment, the 360 had no stack… which for those currently too young to be experiencing gi upset at that concept, means when a cpu jumps to another block of code (either a procedure call or a function call) at the end one needs to return (with a possible result value). Modern (like since the late 60s) machines kept a stack of the caller’s return address and machine states and when your function returns, the cpu pops that last set off the stack and uses it to resume after the call. But in the early 60s this wasn’t a thing so you did your own stack implementation. And sure simple stack management is like CS200 level coursework, actual(tm) stack management in the real world is tricky and hilarity can ensue. Since I was writing drivers they ran as a privileged task, and this meant my ignorance broke out of the VM the user’s code was on, and borked the OS/hypervisor; yeah dumped over 1000 users. They moved me to a backup machine after that…

 

[henryhbk]

Apple. Stop putting the damn chips in new iPads. It's overkill and the Macs need it infinitely more.

It’s hardly a zero-sum game they can do both, they figure if issues crop up, iPads are often less mission critical than Mac’s so early release on an iPad is safer (and for mission critical iPads, like my airline pilot son’s EFB they aren’t running the latest models)

But your overall point, kinda is apple’s problem which is ok my machine (MacBook Pro) is already insanely fast even as a developer, and there isn’t some huge need for dramatically faster compute {wouldn’t refuse it} I’m still on the i9 8-core Intel MacBook Pro and honestly it still is a beast (partly because I have 64gb of ram) and sure the current ARM machines might give me a few percent speed advantage shaving a few seconds of compile time, or slightly faster database grinding isn’t worth the $5000 to buy a new one. For extreme grinding needs I have a liquid cooled 24-core based Ubuntu box with 128gb DDR5 ram and monster nvidia RTX, but with rare exceptions don’t need it. Just did a run Monday that enriched 25 million records and it took ~1 minute. Hardly throwing out my MBP to get to 50 seconds… oh, and not running super-AI Siri is a feature…

 

[PsykX]

Yearly updates of Macs is a bit too much.

Disagree 1000%.

Macs have been left behind and received random updates between around 2013 and 2020. I am SO glad they're on a yearly update schedule, for me it makes perfect sense.

Nobody needs to upgrade every year anyways - this is not the purpose. Apple need to always be at the top of their game against their competitors, who themselves upgrade on a yearly basis.

 

[mrbobdobolina]

I'd be nice if they actually updated *all* the computers though... The Mac Studio & Mac Pro are is still using the M2... will they get the M5? Or or the M4? (Or the M3?)

 

[hajime]

So the performance jump of the M5 series over the M4 series is not what has been reported to be minor but “significant “?

 

[frogleader12]

So the performance jump of the M5 series over the M4 series is not minor but “significant “?

i would guess the same uplift from m3 to m4
which is a really good amount

 

[Frantisekj]

I'd be nice if they actually updated *all* the computers though... The Mac Studio & Mac Pro are is still using the M2... will they get the M5? Or or the M4? (Or the M3?)

Reading article, I got idea, that if there wont be M4 Extreme, then maybe M5 due to 3D technology could make it happen as production could be cheaper and CPU smaller.

 

[Biro]

Apple. Stop putting the damn chips in new iPads. It's overkill and the Macs need it infinitely more.

Either that or free up iPadOS to behave more like MacOS. - or bring MacOS to the iPad.

 

[mevans7]

I would be happy if we could just stop the email and text spam.

 

[Biro]

So the performance jump of the M5 series over the M4 series is not what has been reported to be minor but “significant “?

I guess that depends on what one regards as “significant.” For me, personally, “significant” is 50 percent or more. Otherwise, it’s minor or iterative. But that’s me.

 

[Chuckeee]

Yearly updates of Macs is a bit too much.

It is just like automobiles:
There are new models released annually
They don’t expect most customers to update annually
It is a standard across the industry, if they didn’t update annually it would be decremental to their status in the marketplace

 

[picpicmac]

The Taiwanese foundry has been crucial to Apple's successful transition away from Intel processors beginning in 2020, with the company unable to produce its custom chips without TSMC's advanced manufacturing capabilities.

As if any other US consumer scale computer company have their own fab lines?

All the retail brands depend upon TSMC to some degree. That's why there is a big geo-political cloud over TSMC.

 

[picpicmac]

The TSMC "2nm" node has been in the news quite a bit recently. This is due to TSMC making claims that they are ahead of schedule, already moving in equipment into the fab, etc.

We'll believe it when we see it.

 

[Shirasaki]

oh, and not running super-AI Siri is a feature…

I like your comment but this bit takes the cake. Totally agree.

As if any other US consumer scale computer company have their own fab lines?

All the retail brands depend upon TSMC to some degree. That's why there is a big geo-political cloud over TSMC.

Even if US is working on building their own, it would take decades for them to match what TSMC is doing before even surpassing it. The grave mistake of outsourcing nearly all jobs to other countries, made by all the greedy corporations.

 

[Shirasaki]

Umm so I guess I can wait until M5 releases to upgrade my M1 iPad Pro, which unfortunately has insufficient CPU and GPU performance for some of the games I play.
(Overheat and massive slowdown after just some 10 min playing)

 

[Shirasaki]

Apple. Stop putting the damn chips in new iPads. It's overkill and the Macs need it infinitely more.

No they are not. Believe it or not, my M1 iPad Pro already shows its age of insufficient CPU and GPU performance, especially when trying to run 2 or more games simultaneously and/or run 4 apps simultaneously for an extended period. E.g. 30min or longer. It’s so hot to touch.

 

[Christopher Pelham]

Apple. Stop putting the damn chips in new iPads. It's overkill and the Macs need it infinitely more.

Hasn’t it been well-covered that Apple was compelled to go to M4 in iPad because M3 was a dead end and the lower volume allowed them to ramp up? It’s not necessarily going to be like that every time.