Reports from South Korea say Apple is reportedly considering launching an iPhone 17 Pro with a 2nm chipset in 2025, but it may have to delay the plan by 12 months. .
According to the latest information from insiders, TSMC is struggling with wafer yields and its 2nm chips are not yet certified for mass production. The high demand for test products has forced Taiwanese manufacturers to adapt their existing facilities to new processes, which takes time.
TSMC exclusively produces chips for Apple devices such as the iPhone and MacBook, but the Taiwanese company also serves other prominent customers such as Nvidia and Qualcomm. The two companies are reportedly in talks with Samsung Electronics to expand production to the South Korean foundry if tensions in Taiwan worsen.
TSMC currently manufactures 10,000 wafers per month, with plans to expand to 80,000 by 2026. The company’s facility in Arizona will help achieve a total production capacity of 140,000 sheets.
TSMC semiconductor manufacturing plant site in Phoenix, Arizona
Taiwan’s Economic Daily reported that the yield of 2nm wafers is 60%, indicating that 40% of each wafer is unusable. Each wafer costs 44 million won (approximately $30,000) to produce, meaning TSMC is effectively losing $120 million every month due to imperfections in the new process.
The solution is simple. Apple will continue to use the 3 nm process for another year, allowing TSMC to increase yields and improve pricing. Samsung faces similar challenges. The South Korean company needs to improve both the yield and performance of its 2nm chips, which are already inferior compared to larger Taiwanese rivals.
Source (Korean)
