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This factory is going to specialize in EUV and is "financed" indirectly by Apple.

• teruakohatu 6y ago
  If Apple didn't buy up the 5nm capacity, the next highest bidder would have for slightly less than Apple was willing to pay.
  • mardiyah 6y ago
    Yup, if it means Apple needed TSMC more than in the other way around
    • lotsofpulp 6y ago
      It’s more complicated. Apple has the branding to have a higher probability of extracting a higher profit margins at higher volumes compared to other brands, so a different buyer is probably not able to guarantee the level of payments Apple can to TSMC. I don’t think it’s useful to think of it in terms of Apple needs TSMC more or the other way around. They’re both benefiting quite nicely from the cooperation.
  • tooltalk 6y ago
    >>> the next highest bidder would have for slightly less than Apple was willing to pay. What makes you think Apple pays top dollars? Apple is notorious for squeezing their suppliers to save their margin and they often use their sales volume as the main leverage to gain discounts. It seems the demand for TSMC is however so high that now TSMC doesn't have to offer such incentive for large customers: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/tmsc-is-reportedly-terminating-discounts-and-increasing-prices https://www.tomshardware.com/news/tmsc-is-reportedly-termina...
• someperson 6y ago
  You could say its financed by Apple, or your could say its financed by every user of a smartphone or GPU. TSMC will manufacture relative low volumes of chips (at presumably high prices) chips for industries which require domestic sourcing like the military so its not going into an iPhone.