Apple CPUs Will Be Made In Arizona Soon

On the occasion of a so-called equipment move-in event in Arizona, Apple confirmed that the company intends to have its chips manufactured there in the future. Apple boss Tim Cook announced at the event of contract manufacturer TSMC that one could soon proudly say that the Apple CPUs are “Made In America”.

It has long been an open secret that Apple and some other US chip manufacturers would soon have their products manufactured by the Taiwanese contract manufacturer TSMC at a new location in the state of Arizona. An event celebrating the installation of the first manufacturing facilities in the first part of the new TSMC site in Arizona was attended by US President Joe Biden and Apple boss Tim Cook, among others.

Nvidia, and TSMC first customers for new plants

Cook confirmed that Apple will be one of the first buyers of chips that TSMC produces in Arizona. In the long term, TSMC intends to build a second plant there, which will produce chips with a structure width of three or four nanometers, in addition to the first plant, for which an upgrade to even more modern production processes was announced after the initial announcement of the production of 5-nanometer chips.

The Apple boss explained that the construction of the plant will combine the skills of TSMC and the “unmatched ingenuity of American workers” and thus invest in a better future. Plant a seed in the Arizona desert and be proud to help grow it. The chips built there should end up in future iPhones and Macs.

TSMC intends to commission the first of the two plants in 2024 before the second plant to serve the expected strong demand from 2026. It is currently unclear how large the proportion of Apple chips manufactured there should be in relation to the total capacity of the plants. It is also unclear how large the proportion of Apple iPhones and Macs equipped with US chips will be in the future.

In addition to Apple, other US chip companies also want to have their products produced at TSMC in Arizona. The heads of memory manufacturer Micron (Crucial) and Nvidia, who also want to have their products manufactured there, were also present at the event, at which US President Biden humorously revealed that he had very little knowledge of the subject.

TSMC is still the world’s largest contract manufacturer of chip products. The company not only produces all Apple A and M series chips installed in Apple devices, but also graphics chips for AMD and Nvidia and ARM chips for MediaTek and Qualcomm.