Apple Nostradamus Makes Two New Predictions for Mac, Apple Car
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is one of Apple’s most critical supply chain entities — and that’s only going to become increasingly true according to a new report.
TSMC is currently the sole supplier of Apple’s proprietary A-series chips, which are used in the company’s iPhone lineup. While A-series chips are Apple-designed, they’re produced by TSMC. The Taiwan-based chip maker supplied Apple with the incredibly fast A12 Bionic, and it’s likely to remain Apple’s only supplier of A13 and A14 chips in the years to come.
According to a new research note by reliable TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple relies on TSMC due to its “superior design and production capabilities” and the fact that it doesn’t compete with Apple. And Kuo is forecasting that TSMC is only going to become more important to Apple as the company continually moves toward designing its own silicon.
Continue reading to learn about Ming-Chi Kuo's latest predictions for Mac and Apple Car.
2 Macs Will Work More Like iPhones Using First-Party Chips
The analyst predicts that TSMC will manufacture a new series of Apple-designed ARM processors for its Mac products, beginning sometime in 2020 and 2021.
Back in April, Bloomberg reported that Apple was developing in-house ARM-based processors for its Mac lineup — the only current Apple products to not use first-party silicon. It could also be part of a larger initiative to make “Macs work more like iPhones,” the publication added.
That move to proprietary chips won’t bode well for Intel, who currently supplies the CPUs for products ranging from the MacBook Pro to the MacBook Air.
But it could have a variety of benefits for Apple, according to Kuo. That includes no Intel-caused delays, more minute control over silicon design, better profits, and increased differentiation from other computers in a crowded marketplace.
Kuo’s report also corroborates Bloomberg’s prediction that Macs running on first-party, ARM-based chips could hit the market sometime in 2020 at the earliest.
1 Apple Car Will Gain First-Party Chips Too
The Mac lineup isn’t the only Apple product that could be seeing first-party chips manufactured by TSMC.
According to Kuo, Apple may tap the chip manufacturer to build chipsets for its long-rumored and shadowy vehicle project sometime between 2023 to 2025.
Originally, the so-called Project Titan was rumored to be developing an actual physical car. But after a series of roadblocks, it's now likely that Apple is focused on underlying developing autonomous and driverless systems. But that could change.
Apple currently has one of the largest fleets of self-driving cars on the road in California. And while details of its systems are still murky, a set of recent hires and other reports indicate that Apple is still hard at work on the vehicular project.
Kuo says that TSMC will likely manufacture chips for the Apple car platform, which he dubs Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS).
That’s because ADAS will support Level 4 or level 5 automation. TSMC’s 3/5nm chip processes are the only ones that can support this type of automation requirements, Kuo said.
Previously, Kuo said that Apple could debut a first-party vehicle or related underlying systems in 2023 to 2025. His report today corroborates that.