In a bid to seize the AI PC market opportunity, Apple is set to debut its new iPad Pro on the 7th, featuring its in-house M4 chip. With the momentum of the M4 chip’s strong debut, Apple reportedly plans to revamp its entire Mac lineup. The initial batch of M4 Macs is estimated to hit the market gradually from late this year to early next year.

It’s reported by a report from Commercial Times that Apple’s M4 chip adopts TSMC’s N3E process, aligning with Apple’s plans for a major performance upgrade for Mac, which is expected to boost TSMC’s operations.

Notably, per Wccftech’s previous report, it is rumored that the N3E process is also used for producing products like the A18 Pro, the upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, and the MediaTek Dimensity 9400, among other major clients’ products.

Apple held an online launch event in Taiwan on May 7th at 10 p.m. Per industry sources cited by the same report, besides introducing accessories like iPad Pro, iPad Air, and Apple Pencil, the event will mark the debut of the M4 self-developed chip, unveiling the computational capabilities of Apple’s first AI tablet.

With major computer brands and chip manufacturers competing to release AI PCs, such as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus, and Intel introducing Core Ultra into various laptop brands, it is imperative for Apple to upgrade the performance of its products. Therefore, the strategy of highlighting AI performance through the M4 chip comes as no surprise.

According to a report by Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, the M4 chip will be integrated across Apple’s entire Mac product line. The first batch of M4 Macs is said to be expected to debut as early as the end of this year, including new iMac models, standard 14-inch MacBook Pro, high-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini. New products for 2025 will also be released gradually, such as updates to the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air in the spring, updates to the Mac Studio in mid-year, and finally updates to the Mac Pro.

The report from Commercial Times has claimed that the M4 chip will come in three versions: Donan, Brava, and Hidra. The Donan variant is intended for entry-level MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and low-end Mac mini models. The Brava version is expected to be used in high-end MacBook Pro and Mac mini models, while the Hidra version will be integrated into desktop Mac Pro computers.

Apple’s plan to introduce the M4 chip into its Mac series is expected to boost the revenue of TSMC’s 3-nanometer family. The report has indicated that the M4 chip will still be manufactured using TSMC’s 3-nanometer process, but with enhancements to the neural processing engine (NPU), providing AI capabilities to Apple’s product line. Additionally, industry sources cited by the same report have revealed that the M4 will utilize TSMC’s N3E process, an improvement over the previous N3B process used in the M3 series chips.

Meanwhile, TSMC continues to advance its existing advanced process node optimization versions. Among them, the N3E variant of the 3-nanometer family, which entered mass production in the fourth quarter of last year, will be followed by N3P and N3X. Currently, N3E is highly likely to be featured in the new generation iPad Pro.

Source: TSMC

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• [News] Apple Rumored to Develop In-House AI Processor for Mass Production in the Second Half of 2025
• [News] Apple Reportedly Releases Supply Chain List, Nanya Technology, Lotes, and Novatek Not Included

(Photo credit: Apple)

According to reports from global media outlets like MacRumors and Wccftech on April 23rd, Apple is said to be developing its first in-house AI processor for PCs, the M4 chip, and is also working on a self-developed AI server processor using TSMC’s 3-nanometer process, with plans for mass production expected in the second half of 2025.

As per Wccftech’s report, based on the production schedule, Apple’s AI server processor might utilize TSMC’s “N3E” process. It is rumored that the N3E process is also used for producing products like the A18 Pro, the upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, and the MediaTek Dimensity 9400, among other major clients’ products.

Regarding this matter, per a report from Economic Daily News citing sources, it has indicated that Apple’s development of AI server processors will bring new momentum to TSMC’s advanced process orders. Subsequently, assembly orders for related AI servers are expected to be undertaken by Foxconn, becoming two major benefactors of Apple’s aggressive push into AI among Taiwan’s manufacturers.

The source referenced previous reports suggesting that Apple has secured the initial capacity for TSMC’s 3-nanometer process for at least a year. According to TSMC’s financial reports, the revenue contribution from its largest customer exceeded NTD 500 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach NTD 546.5 billion in 2023, setting a new record. TSMC’s largest customer is, anticipated by the report from Economic Daily News, to be Apple.

The same report from Economic Daily News continues by quoting industry sources who revealed that Apple has conducted extensive AI functionality testing, which is highly confidential. Apple and Foxconn have reportedly been engaged in many projects and ongoing tests.

With Apple’s full-scale push into the AI field and plans to introduce AI features in this year’s new iPhone models, there are also rumors of Apple possibly launching its own developed AI chip.

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• [News] Apple Reportedly Releases Supply Chain List, Nanya Technology, Lotes, and Novatek Not Included
• [News] Foxconn Capitalizes on AI Opportunities? Reportedly Looking at Apple’s AI Server Market, B200 Also Poised to Succeed

(Photo credit: Apple)

As the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June approaches, recent rumors about Apple’s AI research have resurfaced. According to reports from MacRumors and Tom’s Guide, Apple is reportedly developing a large language model (LLM) comparable to ChatGPT that can run directly on devices without relying on cloud platforms.

In late February of this year, Apple reportedly decided to terminate its electric car development project “Project Titan” initiated a decade ago and redirected research funds and resources into the field of generative AI. This move has drawn significant attention to Apple’s activities in the AI sector.

Moreover, MacRumors also reports that Apple’s AI research team, led by John Giannandrea, began developing a conversational AI software, known today as a large language model, four years ago. It is understood that Apple’s proprietary large language model has been trained with over 200 billion parameters, making it more powerful than ChatGPT 3.5.

Previously, Apple disclosed that the iOS 18 operating system, set to launch this year, will incorporate AI capabilities. Recently, tech website Tom’s Guide speculated further that iOS 18 could execute large language models directly on Apple devices. However, whether Apple’s large language model can be successfully integrated into various Apple software services remains to be seen.

Using Apple’s voice assistant Siri as an example, at an AI summit held by Apple in February last year, employees were informed that Siri would integrate a large language model in the future. However, former Siri engineer John Burkey revealed to The New York Times that Siri’s programming is quite complex, requiring six weeks to rebuild the database for each new sentence added.

On the other hand, amid Apple’s AI research facing challenges, interest in its Vision Pro headset device has also begun to wane, with recent sales cooling rapidly. As per a report by Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, he has indicated that demands for Vision Pro demos are way down at Apple stores, and sales of Vision Pro at some stores have dropped from a few units per day to a few units per week.

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• [News] Apple Reportedly Releases Supply Chain List, Nanya Technology, Lotes, and Novatek Not Included
• [News] Apple Reportedly Plans to Team Up with Baidu, Sparking AI Server Deployment Trend

(Photo credit: Apple)

Apple has released its supply chain list for the 2023 fiscal year, with notable changes compared to the 2022 list. According to a report from CNA, Major IC substrate manufacturer Nan Ya PCB has returned to Apple’s supply chain list, while Nanya Technology, Lotes, Novatek are no longer included. TSMC, Foxconn, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE), Pegatron, Compal, Wistron, and YAGEO remain part of Apple’s supply chain.

Apple’s 2023 fiscal year supply chain list covers approximately 98% of the materials, manufacturing, and assembly related to Apple products globally.

Compared to the 2022 supply chain list, for Foxconn, the updated list shows manufacturing locations for Apple products in Guangdong, Henan, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Zhejiang provinces in China, with the addition of Jiangxi while Hubei continues to be excluded. In other global regions, locations in Amazonas and Sao Paulo in Brazil, as well as California in the United States, are not included in the current list. However, locations in Tamil Nadu, India, and Bac Giang province, Vietnam, remain on the list.

For ASE, related locations include Jiangsu and Shanghai in China, Yamagata Prefecture in Japan, Taiwan, and Hai Phong City in Vietnam, with Gyeonggi-do in South Korea and Singapore continuing to be excluded.

Notably, companies including FPGA designer Lattice Semiconductor’s facility in Taiwan, Nanya’s facilities in Jiangsu and Taiwan, Lotes Terminal’s facility in Guangdong, Novatek Microelectronics and Taiwanese company Triotek Technology Incorporated are no longer parts of Apple’s supply chain for the fiscal year 2023.

On the other hand, major IC substrate manufacturer Nan Ya PCB, with facilities in Jiangsu, China, and Taiwan, has returned to Apple’s supply chain list. Golden Arrow Printing Company, with locations in Jiangsu, China, and Henan Province, Vietnam, is a new addition to Apple’s supply chain list.

Regarding Taiwanese companies that were first included in Apple’s supply chain list in 2022, including Platinum Optics Technology Incorporated, Primax Electronics Limited with locations in Guangdong, Radiant Opto-Electronics Corporation with locations in Guangdong and Jiangsu, Trinseo in Taiwan, and Winbond Electronics Corporation, these companies remain on Apple’s supply chain list for the 2023 fiscal year.

Furthermore, major Taiwanese companies such as TSMC, Catcher, Foxlink, Compal, Compeq, Delta Electronics, Largan Precision, Lite-On Technology Corporation, Pegatron, Shin Zu Shing, TXC Corporation, Unimicron Technology Corporation, Unitech, Wistron, and YAGEO continue to be included in Apple’s supply chain list.

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• [News] Apple’s Abandonment of Micro LED Watch Project Reportedly Results in Further Impact
• [News] Foxconn Capitalizes on AI Opportunities? Reportedly Looking at Apple’s AI Server Market, B200 Also Poised to Succeed

(Photo credit: Apple)

Following Apple’s cancellation of the Micro LED watch project, the associated supply chain has been further impacted. According to a report from TechNews citing MicroLED-Info, the latest one is KLA Corporation, which has announced a complete exit from the flat panel display (FPD) equipment business.

KLA recently announced its complete withdrawal from the FPD market. The company, which acquired Israeli automated optical inspection (AOI) system supplier Orbotech for USD 3.4 billion, had entered the Micro LED market opportunistically through this acquisition, as Orbotech is a developer of inspection equipment for the semiconductor and display industries.

Due to slowdowns in investment and demand in the consumer electronics market, Orbotech’s performance has been lackluster in recent quarters, with the entire division accounting for only about 3% of KLA’s revenue, totaling USD 283 million in 2023, a decline of 48%. As per the same report, it’s believed that KLA’s decision to shut down this division is linked to the cancellation of a major project with a key customer, likely Apple.

As FPD is one of Orbotech’s main divisions, with KLA announcing its withdrawal from the FPD market, more than 100 employees from this division will face layoffs. KLA stated that exiting the FPD equipment business will not impact the company’s revenue expectations for this quarter, which are projected to be USD 2.3 billion with a variance of plus or minus USD 12.5 million.

Apple’s decision in March to cancel the Micro LED watch project sent shockwaves through the display industry and Micro LED developers.

German LED giant Osram is still considering its next steps, with expected losses of USD 650-900 million; electronic assembly solutions provider Kulicke & Soffa also announced losses of USD 110-130 million due to the cancellation of its collaboration with Apple. Additionally, LG Display’s Micro LED development team within the Strategic Customer (SC) department has started downsizing.

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• [News] Why Apple “Unexpectedly Cancels” Micro LED Watch Project?
• [New] The Reality of Micro LED Unveiled – Infinite Opportunities, Yet Initial Capacity Demand Remains Low

(Photo credit: Apple)