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Apple to occupy 90% of TSMC 3nm capacity in 2023

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Re: Apple to occupy 90% of TSMC 3nm capacity in 2023

#111

Some people may criticise the "monopoly" Apply have of TSMC latest nodes, but I think it's ultimately good. TSMC need to know they have a customer for new nodes in order to invest in them, thats what Apple are in the unique position to give with their war chest of cash. This investment by Apple eventually leads its way to other customers and smaller businesses. The whole industry thrives on the wake Apple leaves behi…

> TSMC need to know they have a customer for new nodes in order to invest in them I mean, does anyone doubt that thinner process nodes will be in demand?

How are we to proceed if we reach the size of a single atomic layer which is around 0.5nm?

Sure, 3nm is marketing too, but there are hard limits and reliability might suffer if manufacturing cannot keep up.

Re: Apple to occupy 90% of TSMC 3nm capacity in 2023

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you want that?

One of the hallmarks of being a hacker is a Democratic spirit. The ethos that we’re forever vigilant and deeply skeptical of structural power. Apple has too much power, no for profit company or person can responsibly wield with that much power.

Eh... I am not worried (yet). Desktop domination is still Windows for the 30th year in a row. Windows currently is much more of a threat to open computing and has been since forever.

Is it nice to have faster ARM chips? Yeah. Does it mean that Apple has a monopoly position? Not really, they just have an edge right now, I'm sure they pay eye-watering amounts to TSMC.

Intel could compete on the lower price end, but they don't, they're instead trying to convince you that they're the fastest chips on the planet, and funnel a power plants worth of electricity through the chip to get there. But they could come back to prominence with a lower power, slower, lower price chip.

Re: Apple to occupy 90% of TSMC 3nm capacity in 2023

#113

Some people may criticise the "monopoly" Apply have of TSMC latest nodes, but I think it's ultimately good. TSMC need to know they have a customer for new nodes in order to invest in them, thats what Apple are in the unique position to give with their war chest of cash. This investment by Apple eventually leads its way to other customers and smaller businesses. The whole industry thrives on the wake Apple leaves behi…

> Some people may criticise the "monopoly" Apply have of TSMC latest nodes, but I think it's ultimately good.

And if Apple leaves TSMC will be left with the pants down.

Re: Apple to occupy 90% of TSMC 3nm capacity in 2023

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Local LLMs do best on big GPUs, which aren’t an option on Macs. What Apple has done with the M-series silicon is really impressive, but it’s not as fast as big, dedicated GPU silicon. > like if the most cost-effective work boot of 2025 is produced by Gucci. Apple M-silicon laptops are high quality, but they’re not the same as overpriced luxury goods. The price of entry level M1/M2 Macs is extremely reasonable, IMO.

> Local LLMs do best on big GPUs, which aren’t an option on Macs. What Apple has done with the M-series silicon is really impressive, but it’s not as fast as big, dedicated GPU silicon. It'd be pretty silly for Apple to cram in big, dedicated GPU when 99.9% of their customers don't care and don't want to pay for it, especially considering that anyone that does want big, dedicated GPU can outboard as much GPU as they…

Only on Intel Macs which are going away soon (only 2019 Mac Pro is remaining outside of refurbished.)

Apple Silicon doesn't currently have any provision for external graphics cards.

Re: Apple to occupy 90% of TSMC 3nm capacity in 2023

#115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you want that?

One of the hallmarks of being a hacker is a Democratic spirit. The ethos that we’re forever vigilant and deeply skeptical of structural power. Apple has too much power, no for profit company or person can responsibly wield with that much power.

It’s a nice thought, but the reality is statements like this are just “I want google to have the power” and that’s not better

Re: Apple to occupy 90% of TSMC 3nm capacity in 2023

#116

It's astonishing how TSMC is the only company in the world that can do this. They are just so far ahead of everyone else in manufacturing. It'd sure be nice to have more capacity. The Economist had a good article a few months ago about the volume of chip manufacture by country and process size. The takeaway is Taiwan leads 22nm is an interesting mix including South Korea and China. Chart: https://www.economist.com/im…

You don't mention Samsung, is this the case of their 3nm not being actually 3nm?

https://wccftech.com/samsung-secures-3-nm-advanced-chip-orde...

Re: Apple to occupy 90% of TSMC 3nm capacity in 2023

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are some broken-down reasons why gaming on Mac didn't take off. I'm sure it's a few different reasons all together

The biggest reason is that Steve Jobs hated games. It’s well documented. John Carmack also had some words to say about graphics on Macs.

Such as?

Re: Apple to occupy 90% of TSMC 3nm capacity in 2023

#118
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks like the local-LLM enthusiasts will want to use Apple computers. This is funny to me for some reason, like if the most cost-effective work boot of 2025 is produced by Gucci.

Local LLMs do best on big GPUs, which aren’t an option on Macs. What Apple has done with the M-series silicon is really impressive, but it’s not as fast as big, dedicated GPU silicon. > like if the most cost-effective work boot of 2025 is produced by Gucci. Apple M-silicon laptops are high quality, but they’re not the same as overpriced luxury goods. The price of entry level M1/M2 Macs is extremely reasonable, IMO.

they share their main memory with the GPU.

There is no cheaper way to have 50gb of memory allocated to your GPU compute pipeline (buy a 64gb macbook pro or studio). So yes big, only the fast aspect remains a reason to buy expensive dedicated gpu's

Re: Apple to occupy 90% of TSMC 3nm capacity in 2023

#120
post #99
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not going to bet my life on it, but as per [0] the definition of the «[cash] reserve» is: «In financial accounting, reserve always has a credit balance and can refer to a part of shareholders' equity, a liability for estimated claims, or contra-asset for uncollectible accounts». So it refers to a credit balance, and it does not mention investments. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserve_(accounting)

The term "cash reserves" is not a standard accounting term or classification. "Cash reserves" is commonly used to refer to funds set aside by a company or organization for specific purposes, such as contingencies, future investments, or working capital needs. These reserves are typically considered as part of a company's cash and cash equivalents. Under GAAP, cash (and cash equivalents) includes currency on hand, dep…

That was really helpful, thank you for the detailed explanation.
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