Sources: Intel has begun testing production of “low-end/legacy iPhone, iPad, and Mac processors”; Apple recognizes TSMC's resources will keep tilting toward AI
... Apple has kicked off low-end/legacy iPhone, iPad, and Mac processors at Intel on the 18A-P series (using Foveros packaging).
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple’s move to its own Mac processors, followed by reported plans to use TSMC’s advanced-node production for Macs, made TSMC central to Apple’s silicon supply chain. Related reporting in late 2025 said Apple was evaluating Intel’s 18A process for a portion of its lowest-end M chips.
The new report advances that earlier evaluation from consideration to production testing for low-end or legacy iPhone, iPad, and Mac processors. Its stated rationale is Apple’s expectation that TSMC capacity and attention will keep shifting toward AI-related demand.
First-order effects
- Apple gains a live qualification path for some lower-end or older-generation processors at Intel’s 18A-P process, with Foveros packaging named as part of the test program.
- Intel gets a consequential manufacturing validation opportunity with a major device-chip customer, while TSMC faces the prospect that not every Apple processor category remains exclusively tied to its factories.
Second-order effects
- If testing progresses, Apple can use a second foundry option for processor categories where leading-edge TSMC capacity may be less available or less strategically attractive.
- The split would sharpen competition between Intel and TSMC for large external chip-design customers, especially for products that do not require the most advanced process node.
Third-order effects
- This points toward a more segmented foundry strategy: premium, leading-edge chips may remain concentrated where process leadership is strongest, while mature or lower-end product lines become candidates for alternate suppliers.
- Whether that structure takes hold depends on Intel converting testing into dependable volume production; the report establishes qualification activity, not a committed production allocation.
The trend: AI-driven demand is increasingly pushing major chip buyers to diversify foundry sourcing and match different product tiers to different manufacturing partners.