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I think it's the last thing they would do themselves. Setting up and operating their own TSMC-level fabs would cost Apple: * tens of billions of dollars * at

I think it's the last thing they would do themselves. Setting up and operating their own TSMC-level fabs would cost Apple: * tens of billions of dollars * at least 5 years of time * most of all: immense effort and focus that could be used elsewhere

erichocean 4y ago
Apple is spending $275B to advance Chinese manufacturing.[0] They can easily afford 1/10th of that to build a fab that's ready in five years right here in the US if they wanted to. (Las Vegas is ideal, no natural disasters of any kind.) Hell, they could write a check and buy Intel outright. [0] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/12/report-apple-ceo-tim-cook-engineered-a-secret-275-billion-deal-with-china/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/12/report-apple-ceo-tim...
- cronix 4y ago
  Las Vegas is currently having their water coming from the Colorado River (and reservoirs fed by it) limited, along with several other states and Mexico. If I were a betting man, I'd bet it will get worse in the near future. https://www.ktnv.com/news/u-s-department-of-interior-declares-further-restrictions-on-colorado-river-water-supply https://www.ktnv.com/news/u-s-department-of-interior-declare...
  - seb1204 4y ago
    I was going to mention the water shortage too. Is water not an important resource for chip making?
  - mike_d 4y ago
    Getting far off topic here, but Las Vegas is one of the safest water supplies. There is the often quoted statistic that Las Vegas gets 90% of its water from Lake Mead/Colorado River. But Las Vegas reclaims and recycles 99% of consumed water and pumps it back into the lake via the Lake Mead Wash. Because they get 99 return-flow credits for every 100 gallons, any draw limits from the watershed will have minimal impact. Las Vegas also has a large groundwater table that supplies 25% of its peak summer demand. As a last resort, the Casinos will never let the city run dry. While they only consume 6-7% of the cities water, they depend on their employees being able to live in the city to keep operating.

erichocean 4y ago

Apple is spending $275B to advance Chinese manufacturing.[0] They can easily afford 1/10th of that to build a fab that's ready in five years right here in the US if they wanted to. (Las Vegas is ideal, no natural disasters of any kind.) Hell, they could write a check and buy Intel outright. [0] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/12/report-apple-ceo-tim-cook-engineered-a-secret-275-billion-deal-with-china/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/12/report-apple-ceo-tim...

cronix 4y ago
Las Vegas is currently having their water coming from the Colorado River (and reservoirs fed by it) limited, along with several other states and Mexico. If I were a betting man, I'd bet it will get worse in the near future. https://www.ktnv.com/news/u-s-department-of-interior-declares-further-restrictions-on-colorado-river-water-supply https://www.ktnv.com/news/u-s-department-of-interior-declare...
- seb1204 4y ago
  I was going to mention the water shortage too. Is water not an important resource for chip making?
- mike_d 4y ago
  Getting far off topic here, but Las Vegas is one of the safest water supplies. There is the often quoted statistic that Las Vegas gets 90% of its water from Lake Mead/Colorado River. But Las Vegas reclaims and recycles 99% of consumed water and pumps it back into the lake via the Lake Mead Wash. Because they get 99 return-flow credits for every 100 gallons, any draw limits from the watershed will have minimal impact. Las Vegas also has a large groundwater table that supplies 25% of its peak summer demand. As a last resort, the Casinos will never let the city run dry. While they only consume 6-7% of the cities water, they depend on their employees being able to live in the city to keep operating.