You might not know, but all of Apple’s chips are made by a company called TSMC. They are widely considered to be far more advanced than any chip rival offered by Intel at the moment, and now, TSMC has announced that things will remain that way.
The comments come after Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said his company will catch up with Apple’s chips by next year, with the intention of surpassing them in terms of power and efficiency.
However, TSMC founder Morris Chang is clearly not impressed by Gelsinger’s claims, saying in response that even though Intel is able to improve its chip yields and technology, offer competitive prices and level the playing field, Even if it attempts to do so, it will still be left in the “shadow” of TSMC. Unless geopolitical factors encourage it.
The statement shows that TSMC is feeling confident in its chip manufacturing process. If you’re an Apple user, this could be seen as a message that the best iPhones and MacBooks will continue to outperform their rivals.
Could Intel retaliate?
Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro chips are made using a 3-nanometer process, with its M3 Mac chip expected to follow shortly, and the process is expected to result in unprecedented performance and efficiency. In fact, TSMC has already announced that it will move to an improved 2nm process in 2025, which may be one reason for the company’s belief that Intel will struggle to keep up.
Right now, many Intel chips can match or exceed TSMC’s offerings in terms of performance, but do so at the expense of higher temperatures and power draw, which hinders TSMC’s ability to keep heat down while maintaining output. Struggling to match capacity.
In any effort to fight back, Intel is pulling out all the stops to compete with Apple, including adopting a system-on-a-chip approach for its upcoming Meteor Lake chips. This could help improve efficiency, and Intel will hope to close the gap with Apple.
It’s uncertain whether this will actually happen or not, but we’ll likely find out later this year when Meteor Lake launches. At least for now, it seems that TSMC is not worried about what may happen in the near future. If you’re an Apple fan, this will be music to your ears.