As per a report that was released by Counterpoint, it is being predicted that Apple will be TSMC’s biggest customer in terms of 5nm chips, owing to the high usage of the company’s A14 chips on its latest iPhones and MacBooks followed by the launch of the A15 Bionic later this year. All this combined will result in Apple accounting for 53% of the 5nm chip production. Do note, this increased usage of 5nm chips is caused due to the increased number of devices from Apple that make use of the A14 Bionic chipset. These devices include the iPhone 12 series, the iPad Air, the MacBook Air, Pro and Mac mini as of now. These numbers are expected to go up, with a few other devices in the future featuring the A14 chip or, a chip loosely based on the same, as was the case with the A12 and A12Z Bionic chip.
What About the Competition?
With Apple dominating the 5nm stock, second in line would be Qualcomm, or so the report indicates. It is expected that the company will account for 24% of TSMC’s 5nm stock. Apple is also expected to make use of the X60 5G modem from Qualcomm, further increasing the demand that might be generated from Qualcomm. Overall, both TSMC and Samsung, as per predictions are reported to have 90% of their 5nm equipment booked. Out of this, 80% might be used in smartphones. The 2021 foundry industries revenue is also expected to be up by 23% in comparison to last year. However, the research firm that had predicted this states that the growth might be around 12%, resulting in a revenue of $92 Billion. It has also been expected that TSMC will grow from 13 to 16%, further helping in chip sales and aiding to the industry’s growth. TSMC’s prime rival meanwhile, which is Samsung Foundry is also expected to make 20% growth in 2021, in terms of revenue. This will entirely be based on the 5nm Exynos 2100 chip, which is found on the S21 Series in India and makes use of the same design that is used on the Snapdragon 888 chip.
