News Apple's mobile chips are now made in the U.S. — TSMC produces the older A16 Bionic at its Arizona fab

[Admin]

TSMC's Fab 21 in Arizona already produces A16 processors on the N4P node.

Apple's mobile chips are now made in the U.S. — TSMC produces the older A16 Bionic at its Arizona fab : Read more

 

[JRStern]

Are they priced the same?

 

[hotaru251]

TSMC already stated that the cost of chips in states will be mroe than the cost made in taiwan.
Only question is will the business ordering em cover the difference or will the customer (and we ALL know the answer to that)

 

[bit_user]

It occurred to me that AMD's decision to use the N4P node for Zen 5 just might have something to do with this fab. If they lose access to the Taiwan fabs, at least AMD can theoretically continue making Turin chiplets in the USA.

Thoughts, @thestryker ?

 

[thestryker]

It occurred to me that AMD's decision to use the N4P node for Zen 5 just might have something to do with this fab. If they lose access to the Taiwan fabs, at least AMD can theoretically continue making Turin chiplets in the USA.

Thoughts, @thestryker ?

This fab is supposed to be only N5 (and it's derivatives) so that may have been the onus behind developing the CCD on both N5 and N3. This would also give them more flexibility in general so there are all sorts of potential benefits.

At the end of the day I think the decision to go with N4P was mostly business driven given the compute advantage they've had over Intel combined with the cost savings.

 

[thestryker]

Are they priced the same?

For these Apple parts they're undoubtedly at the same wafer rate, or even potentially discounted. By discount I mean TSMC would likely be guaranteeing defect rate parity whether or not that's what the fab is delivering. Only TSMC is seeing a benefit from them being produced in this fab so there's no way Apple would pay a premium, especially on an older SoC.

Otherwise what @hotaru251 said applies once the fab goes into volume production.

 

[bit_user]

Only TSMC is seeing a benefit from them being produced in this fab so there's no way Apple would pay a premium, especially on an older SoC.

Not necessarily. Perhaps Apple wants to test out the US-based supply chain, in case it becomes necessary to switch over to it. The only way to be sure it's viable is to actually use it, and that assurance would be of value to them.

 

[thestryker]

Not necessarily. Perhaps Apple wants to test out the US-based supply chain, in case it becomes necessary to switch over to it. The only way to be sure it's viable is to actually use it, and that assurance would be of value to them.

Do they have packaging and everything else required in the US? I know they obviously don't have the advanced packaging, but I was under the impression this was just silicon fabrication (their other US fab I remember about is 200mm). If that's the case it shouldn't be a big deal for Apple as the existing support companies have long since existed there because of Intel.