In 2009, the price to have a chip prototype was about $1M/year in software licenses and $50K-$100K per fab evaluation with half an year delay. That was 12 year

In 2009, the price to have a chip prototype was about $1M/year in software licenses and $50K-$100K per fab evaluation with half an year delay. That was 12 years ago. I guess software licenses go up and I am certain that current processes have chip prototypes to cost $500K-$1.5M per evaluation. Yes, you can say everyone sit on their hands and/or asses. I say that having money in bank for several dozens of thousands of chip prototypes certainly helps Apple in the design.