Apple, TSM Update -- July 16. 2024

Locator: 48155APPLE.

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Disclaimer Briefly Reminder

• I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market, 
• I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple. 
• See disclaimer. This is not an investment site. 
• Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them.
• Reminder: I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market, 
• I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple.  

Link here. 

Some of the data points:

• MacRumors contributor is quibbling over 1H25 vs 2H25. Oh, give me a break!
• the bigger story: we're talking about 2-nm (2 nm, 2nm);
• the iPhone 17 will still use the 3-nm process! OMG! The 3-nm process -- how will Apple ever survive (by the way, the folks that know have moved on to new metrics -- moving away from "x-nm" being the be-all and end-all).

This is the most important paragraph in that story: 

TSMC plans to begin volume production of 2nm chips next year, but multiple reports out of Taiwan suggested that the company had been accelerating the process ahead of schedule to secure a stable yield for mass production. Apple is TSMC's main client, and it is typically the first to get TSMC's new chips. Apple acquired all of TSMC's 3nm chips in 2023 for iPhones, iPads, and Macs, for example.

Repeating that in bold:

• 2nm chips (to put that in perspective, Intel threw in the towel at 10 nm);
• accelerating the process (which means exactly what it suggests; TSM is completing their new facilities on time or ahead of schedule)
• secure a stable yield for mass production (mass production, not risk production)
• Apple is TSMC's main client
• Apple is generally the first to get TSMC's new chips
• Apple acquired all of TSMC's 3nm chips in 2023

The next two paragraphs, background:

The 2nm fabrication process, also known simply as "N2," is expected to offer a 10 to 15 percent speed improvement at the same power or a 25 to 30 percent power reduction at the same speed compared to chips made with the supplier's ‌3nm‌ technology. The A17 Pro chip in Apple's iPhone 15 Pro models is manufactured with TSMC's first-generation 3nm process, known as N3B. Apple's M4 chip, which recently debuted in the new iPad Pro, uses an enhanced version of this ‌3nm‌ technology.

Code in iOS 18 has confirmed that all four iPhone 16 models are set to use Apple's next-generation A18 chip, based on TSMC's N3E process. N3E is TSMC's second-generation 3nm chip fabrication process, which is less expensive and has improved yield compared to TSMC's first-generation 3nm process.

No analyst on CNBC has yet mentioned 2 nm, 3 nm, N2, N3, and until they do, those Apple analysts interest me not.

Only one CNBC contributor has mentioned M4 and that came out of left field. Literally from an analyst who probably doesn't even know what CPUs cores or threads are.