Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams has visited Taiwan to secure supply of TSMC's upcoming 2nm chips, Economic Daily News reports.
The visit apparently involved a meeting between Williams and TSMC President Wei Zhejia to discuss custom AI chips and ensure that Apple will be able to access the chipmaker's 2nm manufacturing process, which is set to begin production in 2025.
The iPhone 15 Pro is powered by the A17 Pro chip, which is manufactured with TSMC's 3nm process. This process allows for more transistors to be packed into a smaller space, delivering improvements in performance and efficiency. Apple's M4 chip, which just debuted in the new iPad Pro, uses an enhanced version of this 3nm technology. The transition to 2nm chips should bring further improvements, with projected performance gains of 10 to 15 percent and power consumption reductions of up to 30 percent compared to the 3nm process.
Securing an early supply of 2nm chips is critical for Apple, as TSMC remains the only company capable of manufacturing them at the scale and quality required. This exclusivity is vital for Apple to meet the high demand for its products while limiting competitors' access to these more advanced chips. For its 3nm chips, Apple booked all of TSMC's available chipmaking capacity. The company's 2nm chips could first appear in 2025's iPhone 17 lineup.
