Apple sent Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams to Taiwan to secure the supply of TSMC’s upcoming 2nm chips, according to an Economic Daily News report.
During the visit, Williams reported met with TSMC President Wei Zhejia to discuss custom AI chips and to ensure that Apple will have access to the chipmaker’s 2nm manufacturing process, which is set to begin mass production in 2025.
The current iPhone 15 Pro is powered by the A17 Pro chip, which is fabricated using TSMC’s 3nm process. Apple’s M4 chip, which currently powers only the recently released iPad Pro lineup, uses an enhanced version of that 3nm technology. The transition to 2nm tech should provide impressive performance and power consumption improvements, with projected performance gains of 10 to 15% and power consumption reductions of up to 30% compared to the 3nm process.
Apple is attempting to secure a supply of 2nm chips from TSMC is a critical move, as TSMC is the only company currently capable of creating the more advanced chips. Apple has booked all of the Korean chip maker’s 3nm capacity. The 2nm chips could make an appearance as soon as 2025 in Apple’s iPhone 17 lineup.
