Although TSMC's Fab 21 phase 1 near Phoenix, Arizona, is officially set to start mass production of chips sometime in 2025, the facility is already making processors for the foundry's biggest client, Apple, according to a report by Tim Culpan. This is not surprising, as the contract chipmaker needs to tune its tools on a known system-on-chip to ensure they work as intended.
According to the report, the Apple A16 Bionic application processor is currently made in 'small, but significant, numbers' using TSMC's N4P (4nm-class) process technology at Fab 21 phase 1 stage 1. Using a completed production line to tune equipment on an SoC that has been in production since mid-2022 and is now made in Taiwan with excellent yields makes a lot of sense. Meanwhile, earlier this month, we reported that yields at TSMC's Fab 21 matched yields at TSMC's Taiwanese fabs. That report somewhat corroborates the current report about small-scale production of Apple A16 Bionic at Fab 21.
