There is a difference between designing a chip (from system model downto mask set) and manufacturint (fabbing). Apple is a fabless company, just like many other

There is a difference between designing a chip (from system model downto mask set) and manufacturint (fabbing). Apple is a fabless company, just like many others. They use TSMC, Samsung Semi, SMIC and other fabs that provides state of the art fab processes. When it comes to the design part, Apple has gobbled up enormous amounts of talent and resources the last 10 years. PA Semi was one of the bigger ones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P.A._Semi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P.A._Semi