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Apple is fighting for TSMC capacity as Nvidia takes center stage

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Re: Apple is fighting for TSMC capacity as Nvidia takes center stage

#361

Post by MangoCoffee »

kalleboo wrote: post #352
MangoCoffee wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Apple has used both Samsung and TSMC for its chips in the past. Until the A7 it was Samsung, A8 was TSMC, and the A9 was dual-sourced by both! Apple is used to switching between suppliers fairly often for a tech company; it's not that it's too hard for them to switch fab, it's that TSMC is the only competitive fab right now. This is false. Samsung competes with Apple on smartphones. Apple even filed a lawsuit agains…

Then why are they switching from Sony to Samsung for custom camera sensors for the next iPhone? Why do they keep using Samsung for their customized screens despite LG and Chinese competitors being competitive?

Does Apple spend R&D on iPhone screens like they do Apple Silicon? What's that got to do with what we're talking about regarding iPhone's core IP (Apple's own chip, the most important IP from Apple)?

Re: Apple is fighting for TSMC capacity as Nvidia takes center stage

#362

Post by lovich »

marcus_holmes wrote: post #357
lovich wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bruh, with some very rare exceptions like valve, every company is run as a dictatorship or oligarchy. That goes beyond tech, hell big tech at least gives some agency to their engineers. The only way you don’t need to be versed in compliance or group think at a US firm as an employee is to either be 1) independently wealthy, so your job is a hobby you can walk away from 2) have some leverage on a currently in demand s…

Find a small company with a founder who loves their team and wants them to be happy. They exist, I assure you. They're not even rare. I spent most of my career working in companies with Small companies won't pay FAANG salaries, but they also won't make you feel like a meaningless cog in a vast unsympathetic, unproductive, machine.

> I spent most of my career working in companies with I’ve worked for 3 companies like that. It was really great if your views aligned with the founder. If they didn’t, you got fucked.

I really enjoyed when a bunch of juniors were fired the day before Christmas because the founder heard them discussing the latest movies they watched and decided that they had bad opinions and shouldn’t work at his company since he’d be embarrassed if his peers heard their tastes. Not hyperbole, direct statements. We referred to it as the Red Christmas at the time.

I believe you got lucky, I don’t find your advice actionable.

Re: Apple is fighting for TSMC capacity as Nvidia takes center stage

#363

Post by bob1029 »

edm0nd wrote: post #242
tim-tday wrote: post #69

Sneak preview of the TSMC shortage that will sweep the world in 2027 when China takes Taiwan and the TSMC scuttles their chip fabs on the island. I don’t know the hedge to position against this but I’m pretty sure China will make good on its promise.

I'm not sure how true it is or not but I heard that TSMC has the ability to remotely destroy all of their main fab equipment in the event the Chinese are invading Taiwan.

You don't need to physically destroy anything. All you need to do is zero-fill the storage devices in the facility and walk away. The tools are worthless without parameters/recipes/configuration. Reinventing this stuff is harder than acquiring an EUV tool.

Re: Apple is fighting for TSMC capacity as Nvidia takes center stage

#364

Post by TurdF3rguson »

sellmesoap wrote: post #310
anoojb wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So let's say TMSC reciprocated Apple's consistency as a customer by giving them preferential treatment for capacity. It's good business after all. However, everyone knows that good faith reciprocity at that scale is not rewarded. Apple is ruthless. There are probably thousands of untold stories of how hard Apple has hammered it's suppliers over the years. While Apple has good consumer brand loyalty, they arguably tre…

About 17 years ago I worked at a company that was clamoring to get products into Costco, when we did I was shocked at the fees they charged us for returns. If they're the gold standard for supplier relations it's a wonder anyone bothers being a supplier.

You were shocked that they didn't absorb the cost of your shipping mistakes?

Re: Apple is fighting for TSMC capacity as Nvidia takes center stage

#365

Post by MangoCoffee »

npunt wrote: post #354
MangoCoffee wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Apple has used both Samsung and TSMC for its chips in the past. Until the A7 it was Samsung, A8 was TSMC, and the A9 was dual-sourced by both! Apple is used to switching between suppliers fairly often for a tech company; it's not that it's too hard for them to switch fab, it's that TSMC is the only competitive fab right now. This is false. Samsung competes with Apple on smartphones. Apple even filed a lawsuit agains…

wait til you find out who supplies iPhone screens.

Does Apple spend R&D on iPhone screens like they do Apple Silicon? What's that got to do with what we're talking about regarding iPhone's core IP (Apple's own chip, the most important IP from Apple)?

Re: Apple is fighting for TSMC capacity as Nvidia takes center stage

#366

Post by asciii »

wtetzner wrote: post #355
thewebguyd wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Job's thermonuclear threats were about Android & Google, not Samsung because Schmidt was on Apple's board during the development of Android. > "I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong. I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this." The falling out with Samsung was re…

> because it’s a stolen product This is funny coming from Jobs.

> good artists copy great artists steal - pablo picasso

- steve jobs

Re: Apple is fighting for TSMC capacity as Nvidia takes center stage

#368

Post by nandomrumber »

MangoCoffee wrote: post #330
philistine wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple has used both Samsung and TSMC for its chips in the past. Until the A7 it was Samsung, A8 was TSMC, and the A9 was dual-sourced by both! Apple is used to switching between suppliers fairly often for a tech company; it's not that it's too hard for them to switch fab, it's that TSMC is the only competitive fab right now. There are rumours that Intel might have won some business from them in 2 years. I could total…

>Apple has used both Samsung and TSMC for its chips in the past. Until the A7 it was Samsung, A8 was TSMC, and the A9 was dual-sourced by both! Apple is used to switching between suppliers fairly often for a tech company; it's not that it's too hard for them to switch fab, it's that TSMC is the only competitive fab right now. This is false. Samsung competes with Apple on smartphones. Apple even filed a lawsuit agains…

Which but is false? Samsung definitely did manufacture Apple chips.

Common manufacturer Samsung[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TSMC

Apple A6 which is fabricated with Samsung 32 nm HKMG (Hi dielectric K, Metal Gate) CMOS process

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Apple+A6+Teardown/10528

Re: Apple is fighting for TSMC capacity as Nvidia takes center stage

#369

Post by [deleted] »

internet2000 wrote: post #329
anoojb wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So let's say TMSC reciprocated Apple's consistency as a customer by giving them preferential treatment for capacity. It's good business after all. However, everyone knows that good faith reciprocity at that scale is not rewarded. Apple is ruthless. There are probably thousands of untold stories of how hard Apple has hammered it's suppliers over the years. While Apple has good consumer brand loyalty, they arguably tre…

Costco does not treat their suppliers well.

[deleted]

Re: Apple is fighting for TSMC capacity as Nvidia takes center stage

#370

Post by NoMoreNicksLeft »

Aurornis wrote: post #215
anoojb wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So let's say TMSC reciprocated Apple's consistency as a customer by giving them preferential treatment for capacity. It's good business after all. However, everyone knows that good faith reciprocity at that scale is not rewarded. Apple is ruthless. There are probably thousands of untold stories of how hard Apple has hammered it's suppliers over the years. While Apple has good consumer brand loyalty, they arguably tre…

At this scale and volume, it's not really about good faith. Changing fabs is non-trivial. If they pushed Apple to a point where they had to find an alternative (which is another story) and Apple did switch, they would have to work extra hard to get them back in the future. Apple wouldn't want to invest twice in changing back and forth. On the other hand, TSMC knows that changing fabs is not really an option and Apple…

>On the other hand, TSMC knows that changing fabs is not really an option and Apple doesn't want to do it anyway, so they have leverage to squeeze.

They're Apple. If TSMC fucks around too much, they might just start working towards building their own fab.

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