TSMC Arizona Said to Begin Apple S9 SiP Production Alongside Ryzen 9000 Series Processor

TSMC has begun manufacturing of two processors for AMD and Apple at its Arizona plant, in response to a report by Tim Culpan, a expertise journalist based mostly in Taiwan. The chips are being developed at TSMC’s Fab 21 facility, on its 4nm N4 and N4P course of applied sciences — the chipmaker’s Part 1 is predicted to start operations within the coming months. TSMC can be engaged on hiring workers at Fab 21, for roles associated to fab operations and the set up of apparatus.

TSMC Arizona Picks Up Manufacturing of Apple’s S9 SiP Alongside A16 Bionic

Citing business sources, Culpan reports that TSMC Arizona has begun producing Apple’s S9 System-in-Package deal (SiP) which is used on the corporate’s earlier era Apple Watch Series 9 (which was discontinued final yr) and the Apple Watch Ultra 2. The processor is being produced utilizing TSMC’s N4 (4nm) expertise.

That is the second Apple-made chip to be produced by TSMC at Fab 21 — the corporate has been producing the A16 Bionic chip for the iPhone 15 since final yr. Thee journalist states that the A16 Bionic and Apple’s S9 SiP share some similarities, which meant that TSMC solely needed to adapt the expertise used to manufacture the previous with a purpose to start producing the smartwatch processor.

In accordance with Culpan, the second chip that’s being produced by TSMC is an AMD Ryzen 9000-series processor. These Zen5 desktop CPUs had been unveiled by AMD in June 2024, and are codenamed Granite Ridge. The journalist mentions a Ryzen 9000 CPU with the codenamed “Grand Rapids” as an alternative, so it is unclear whether or not that is an unreleased chipset.

TSMC can be engaged on finishing Part 1B of its plan to ramp up manufacturing on the US chip plant, Culpan writes. The agency goals to ultimately produce as much as 24,000 wafers monthly, by the top of Q1 2025. Below Part 1A, TSMC is presently producing 10,000 wafers monthly, and it’s anticipated to rent extra workers — some extra Taiwanese staff are anticipated to affix the corporate — as the corporate works to ramp up manufacturing on the facility.