Intel Macs used to be $300 for the CPU alone and TSMC is probably still cheaper at this point.
But yeah, they are almost monopolists for their market segment, so we can expect prices to rise.
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Apple to Buy TSMC's Entire Supply of 3nm Chips for 2023
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Intel Macs used to be $300 for the CPU alone and TSMC is probably still cheaper at this point.
But yeah, they are almost monopolists for their market segment, so we can expect prices to rise.
So true...especially when all those other chip foundries have been just killing it in the 3nm space.
Making these things (at enormous scale, no less) is about as close to magic as you'll find outside the team of nerds trying to make nuclear fusion work. They are spending $15-$25 billion for each new foundry...all based on the premise that the extremely advanced chip designs and the one-of-a-kind equipment will work as planned.
If it were easy...China would be doing it.
The wording sounds like Intel screwed up again, going on now for ten years of blunders.
Go Intel!
Go Intel!
Just stop with the 'monopolist' drivel. You don't know what the word even means.
Considering no one else has a 3nm product for the Fall of 2023 it would seem odd not for Apple to do so.
First of all the process isn't even 3nm. That's the size of the FinFET. And with post silicon designs will be discussion picometer designs. Of course those will be in the hundreds of picometer in size. For example, 999 pm, not to be confused withy evening time. Or we'll continue to see .999nm, all the way .990nm over the course of a few decades. After all, we'll soon be dealing with 3D stacked designs.
What happens when we get to 0nm do we start with negative NM.
Chances are that you browse MacRumors from a TSMC-powered device, and have no option for seeking an equivalent without TSMC.
That sums up pretty clearly the meaning of "monopolist".
I think the intersection of people who care about the process node of their phone chips, and the people who cannot distinguish pico-meters from nanometers, will be vanishingly small.
That’s not what this story says. It did not say Apple is consuming all the capacity for 3nm chips. In fact, Apple’s order is actually reduced. It’s actually a confusingly written article that plays chicken and egg with orders and capacity, but I read it as Intel and apple both reducing orders and therefore output and capacity will be reduced with the new process on the horizon.
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Apple is soon like two generations ahead of its competitors and yet haters will still say Apple only sells overpriced outdated hardware
This whole market is made out of monopolies.
ASML - monopoly
TSMC - near monopoly
And now Apple has monopoly on TSMC 3nm chips
Is Apple buying up all 3nm to prevent other companies from utilizing those chips, or is Apple buying up all 3nm chips because they truly see the demand for their own products? As far as I was aware I didn't think any of the other brands had need for 3nm this year. I could be wrong.
It's a monopoly regardless of their needs. The real loser here is YOU, the consumer. Stop excusing the lack of competition and choice, we're not in a communist state.
Did you even read the lead article summary of the thread ????
" ... The report suggests TSMC's 3nm process output may be reduced to 50,000-60,000 wafers monthly in the fourth quarter, down from the 80,000-100,000 units previously anticipated, due to a cutback in Apple's orders. The current monthly output of TSMC's 3nm process is estimated at approximately 65,000 wafers, the outlet's sources said ..."
There is a 30-40K wafer capacity gap that is just laying fallow ( or more likely just isn't applied to N3B . Which is what Apple is likely buying). Apple isn't buy 'everything' , they are just the only buyer. There is really a big difference between those two states. TSMC has capacity if someone else wanted to buy; just about everybody is skipping N3B. That the more concrete issue here. Not Apple capacity hoarding.
Many indications out there that there is far more widespread demand for N3E and that the wafer starts for N3E by other folks will rise pretty fast in 2023... the wafers largely just won't finish coming out of the multiple month processing and recognize revenue for TSMC in a significant amount until 2024 as started.
Apple has had an order on N3 for well over a year, other OEMs have pulled their orders to wait for N3E as the first N3 variant isn’t going to exist anymore next year.
That’s not a monopoly.
Yeah. But I don’t remember that they were planning on any products with 3nm this year, where they?
Errr, this is basically the same story being regurgitated ... Intel hasn't really cancelled anything recently on N3. It is just that the impacts of the earlier cancellations are just more visible now.
TSMC doesn't really trust Intel more so because as soon as Intel gets their own foundry act together TSMC knows the order flow will drop. This is mainly a 'stop gap' for Intel. For the next couple of years Intel can't move high EUV fab production to their own stuff because they just don't even have enough machines to do it ( regardless of whether the Intel 4,3, or 20A is working well or not. Just don't have wafer volume period to cover most of their product line up. )