Sources: Apple and Intel will be the first to adopt TSMC's 3nm tech, with new Intel and iPad CPUs based on the new manufacturing process scheduled for late 2022
Taiwanese company remains vital partner for American tech giants — TAIPEI — Apple and Intel have emerged as the first adopters …
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple had already put its M1 follow-up into mass production, making a move to TSMC’s next process a continuation of its in-house silicon roadmap. Later coverage tied that roadmap to 3nm Mac chips with up to four dies and 40 CPU cores and, subsequently, to N3E-based A17 and M3 designs.
First-order effects
- Apple and Intel become TSMC’s initial named customers for its 3nm process, positioning new iPad and Intel CPUs for the reported late-2022 manufacturing window.
- TSMC’s leading-edge production planning must accommodate two major U.S. chip designers before broader adoption of the process.
Second-order effects
- Apple’s Mac silicon plans gain a path beyond the iPad CPUs in this report, culminating in the reported N3E plans for A17 iPhone and M3 Mac chips.
- Intel’s use of TSMC’s process makes TSMC a more consequential manufacturing partner for a company that also designs its own CPUs, concentrating customer leverage at the foundry.
Third-order effects
- If successive Apple product lines continue to move onto TSMC’s newest nodes, leading-node access becomes a core determinant of differentiation across Apple’s iPad, iPhone, and Mac chip roadmaps.
- The pattern points to advanced-chip supply being organized around a small set of high-volume customers and a single leading foundry, heightening the strategic importance of semiconductor capacity allocation.
The trend: Advanced-node chip leadership is increasingly shaped by early foundry access for large device makers and CPU designers.