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I wish them well. I read an article a while back about the culture shock between the TSMC management that moved to Arizona and the new American workers. Hopefully, they both can get past that and enjoy a successful venture. 💪🌵
 
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The A16 chip, which debuted in the iPhone 14 Pro two years ago, is reportedly being produced in small but meaningful quantities at TSMC's Fab 21 facility in Arizona. The chips are said to be manufactured using the same 4nm N4P process employed in TSMC's Taiwan factories to ensure consistency in quality and performance.
This is good news. Train them on older 4nm. How soon until they start producing 3nm chips though?
 

They've gone back and forth on that for years. They "moved" to do it once, then "moved" it back, now they're "moving" to do it again. Problem is, they'd still be their own biggest customer for some time, and fewer people want their chips.
 
So is Samsung manufacturing any of its chips in the U.S.?
Maybe it's just me, but this comes off as a troll post (i.e. Look at what Apple/Taiwan Semi are doing for the U.S. What has Samsung done for the U.S.?) . But to answer your question, Samsung has been running their Austin, Texas plant since 1996! That's over 28 years



And they're building a more advanced plant in Taylor, Texas that's expected to be up and running in 2026

 
Interesting development - I don't think Apple would bother if the iPhone 15 was going to be the last device to use the A16.

I'd say the most likely place it would be used is the 11th gen iPad which is rumored to be released soon - since the 10th gen uses the A14 and is a couple years old it would make sense to skip over the A15 and go to the A16.

Less likely that it appears in the new SE as it will probably get the A18, but I can also see a couple scenarios where Apple might want to put the A16 into the SE - they might want to omit Apple Intelligence from the SE and keep it from being more powerful than the iPhone 15 so it doesn't pull too many sales away from higher priced models, or they could possibly pair the A16 with 8 GB of RAM so it does support Apple Intelligence.

I don't really see it showing up in the Apple TV unless the A16 has become cheaper to produce than the A15.
 
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Why don't they use Intel 18A fab?

As a US company they should use US Silicon.
If it were that simple…
for one, intel 18A is is scheduled for production sometime next year.
18A is the name of a process, Apple would have to do a complete redesign for that specific process, probably a 2-3 year undertaking.
intel is still struggling with their current process performance/yield, their upcoming chip (forget the name) is fab’d by TSMC…
Intel needs to make some significant changes to become a “real“ foundry…
there’smuch more on this topic but I’ll stop here
 
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Why don't they use Intel 18A fab?

As a US company they should use US Silicon.

Are you being sarcastic or are you serious? Because Intel claims to be making progress on 18A while abandoning 20A... :rolleyes: That doesn't exude a lot of confidence.

Apple creating their custom silicon was arguably the best thing to happen to the firm. AppleInsider had a few articles on Job's vision many years ago. Intel has only itself to blame:
appleinsider.com/articles/15/01/19/how-intel-lost-the-mobile-chip-business-to-apples-ax-arm-application-processors
appleinsider.com/articles/20/06/09/how-arm-has-already-saved-apple---twice

IMO Intel will be largely a gov supported entity making chips for the US security apparatus or maybe EVs.
 
This is good news. Train them on older 4nm. How soon until they start producing 3nm chips though?

I don't think they will move 3nm to the US anytime soon and it is largely due to politics. TSMC is Taiwan's leverage against China. It needs to maintain the latest technology in Taiwan to keep the US interested in its defense.
 
I don't think they will move 3nm to the US anytime soon and it is largely due to politics. TSMC is Taiwan's leverage against China. It needs to maintain the latest technology in Taiwan to keep the US interested in its defense.
TSMC has 2 more fabs in Arizona that are expected to be completed in 2026. By that time, these people working on 4nm chips will be sufficiently prepared to move to 3nm and smaller chips.

TSMC says they expect to produce 3nm and smaller chips at their 2nd Arizona fab in 2028


April 2024

TSMC announces plans to build a third fab in Phoenix, bringing the total investment to more than $65B. This new fab will operate 2nm or more advanced process technology and be operational by the end of the decade. It's second fab will incorporate 3nm and 2nm technology, and start production in 2028.



Taiwan-located fabs will always be ahead of U.S. fabs as TSMC are already working on 2nm chips and expect full 2nm production by end of 2025 in Taiwan.
 
Why don't they use Intel 18A fab?

As a US company they should use US Silicon.
Because they are terrible. They still cant keep up with the latest technology unlike TSMC. Their latest CPUs are still based on Intel 7 which is an improved version of 10nm but TSMC or Apple is using 3nm and soon 2nm on next year.

There is a huge gap between Intel and TSMC. Besides, Intel is having a worst year as they cant keep up with their own business while keep failing with their own company as they cant develop properly.

Literally, Intel sucks and it's just a matter of time before they fall.
 
So is Samsung manufacturing any of its chips in the U.S.?
Samsung has an existing fab in Austin, TX, that goes down to 14nm.
They are building a fab near by, in Taylor, TX, that should be ready around 2026. All I've seen about this is that it will be an "advanced" node, no details. It's quite possible that it will be a DRAM and/or flash facility rather than a logic facility. They are receiving US govt money, and if the feds have any sense, it's more important to have a balanced home portfolio that can also manufacture DRAM and flash (and other things like photonics) than to have three logic fabs and little DRAM or flash...
 
Makes you wonder what Apple are making old A16 CPUs for - low cost iPad mini and Apple TV refresh? I had assumed the A18 would be going in the iPhone SE4 from other rumours.
That's probably for the new entry-level iPad. I'd be surprised if a new mini comes out with a 2 year old chip.
 
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TSMC has 2 more fabs in Arizona that are expected to be completed in 2026. By that time, these people working on 4nm chips will be sufficiently prepared to move to 3nm and smaller chips.

TSMC says they expect to produce 3nm and smaller chips at their 2nd Arizona fab in 2028


April 2024

TSMC announces plans to build a third fab in Phoenix, bringing the total investment to more than $65B. This new fab will operate 2nm or more advanced process technology and be operational by the end of the decade. It's second fab will incorporate 3nm and 2nm technology, and start production in 2028.



Taiwan-located fabs will always be ahead of U.S. fabs as TSMC are already working on 2nm chips and expect full 2nm production by end of 2025 in Taiwan.

TSMC announced the N4 plant in 2020 but it is set to mark 5 years before production will ramp. If they're producing at scale, you would think TSMC would announce this because it would mean that they're ahead of their 1H25 target (delayed target, albeit).

It is true that they announced N3 to be operational by 2028 but based on the timeline above, I suspect 2030. You can make the argument that they'll be faster as they get more funding through CHIPS but by that time, they'll be on A14 and A1 in Taiwan. No matter what, the latest chips will be produced in Taiwan with a slow rollout to ROW.
 
That's probably for the new entry-level iPad. I'd be surprised if a new mini comes out with a 2 year old chip.
I’d assume new models would have to go A18 for the ram and AI. Might make sense to continue making older A16 based lines if this is a corporate, regulatory, or PR box ticking exercise. Always makes sense to spread the risk too, especially if anything were to happen to Taiwan.
 
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