Apple Helped TSMC Properly Utilize Its 3nm Fabrication Plant Thanks to A17 Bionic And M3 Chip Orders

wccftech.com:

As Apple switches to 3nm orders from TSMC, the Taiwanese firm will witness a slowdown of 5nm chips. Fortunately, as one report states, the semiconductor maker is experiencing healthy production of its cutting-edge process, primarily because of A17 Bionic and M3 orders, which are expected to be found in various products.

As published by DigiTimes, MacRumors reports that iPhone orders on TSMC’s 5nm process have dipped by 30 percent. As Apple transitions to the 3nm architecture for the A17 Bionic and M3, this was expected. At this time, the technology giant is seemingly the only client that has opted to use TSMC’s 3nm wafers, and this could be due to a price hike that the latter introduced a couple of months ago.

With Apple reportedly the only customer that has access to TSMC’s 3nm shipments, it is obvious that the manufacturer’s plant will not operate at full capacity. Even then, given the number of iPhones Apple sells in an entire calendar year, it is enough for TSMC to utilize its facility at 70 percent. The remaining 30 percent can be added when Apple sees demand pick up in the fourth quarter of this year.

However, that remaining capacity can also be added for TSMC’s N3E process (the improved version of N3), which could be picked by the likes of Qualcomm and MediaTek in the future. For now, the first chip to properly take advantage of the 3nm process is the M3, which is said to arrive for the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models in the coming months.

Later, Apple will add the A17 Bionic to its 3nm chip family, but it will exclusively be made for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, with the less expensive versions, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, expected to feature the A16 Bionic. We should also see a new MacBook