Apple A15 Bionic Chip under mass production

DigiTimes has reported that the production for Apple’s next-gen A15 Bionic chips is already underway at TSMC.

The upcoming processors will come with improved N5P nodes and it's expected to m surpass the previous A14 chips. TSMC’s 5 nm technology is amassing another moderate upgrade with the introduction of the N4 nodes in addition to the N5P already in use. These 4 nm nodes will be used to produce new Mac processors.

TSMC is predicting its revenue to increase significantly in May and June, allowing it to boost the 5 nm production outcome throughout the remainder of the year. Instead of the initial targets set to 100,000 monthly wafers for the first half of 2021 and 120,000 monthly wafers for the second half, TSMC is now on track to scale the output to 140,000 - 150,000 monthly wafers for 2H 2021. By the end of this year, the 5 nm nodes should be accounting for 20% of TSMC’s total wafer revenue. The exact 5 nm process output target has yet to be set, as the Taiwanese foundries need to calculate the profit flow in June.

Projected revenues for the second quarter of 2021 might turn out flat, but TSMC should see outstanding revenue increases over the next two quarters, with the main driver being Apple’s orders for as many A15 Bionic chips as possible to ensure a smooth iPhone 13 launch in early October.