According to previous reports, $Apple (AAPL.US)$ the company originally planned to equip the upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models, which will be launched this year, with $Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM.US)$ 2nm processor chips.

However, the latest news from South Korean media ChosunBiz shows that Apple may postpone the mass production of its 2-nanometer chips by 12 months to 2026, making it highly unlikely to see an iPhone equipped with 2-nanometer chips this year.

According to industry insiders, this is because Taiwan Semiconductor's 2-nanometer process capacity is limited while testing demands are continuously increasing, so customers need to pay High Stock Price to achieve mass production.

According to a report from the Taiwan Economic Daily, the yield rate for Taiwan Semiconductor's 2-nanometer wafers is about 60%, meaning that 40% of each wafer is unusable, and the production cost for each wafer reaches 0.03 million USD.

This means that Apple will continue to use 3-nanometer process chips for another year, allowing Taiwan Semiconductor time to improve yield rates, expand capacity, and adjust prices. Therefore, the iPhone 17 series, which will be released in the second half of this year, may use Taiwan Semiconductor's 3-nanometer N3P process instead of the 2-nanometer process.

Currently, Taiwan Semiconductor's 2-nanometer process has a capacity of 0.01 million wafers per month. Taiwan Semiconductor is making every effort to increase capacity through facility investments, and it is expected that the capacity for its 2-nanometer process will expand to 0.08 million wafers by 2026.

In addition, Taiwan Semiconductor plans to expand its investment in its factory in Arizona, USA, increasing the 2-nanometer process capacity by about 0.02 million wafers, reaching 0.14 million wafers per month.

Meanwhile, Taiwan Semiconductor also plans to enhance the capacity of its 3-nanometer process during this period to solidify its leadership position in advanced processes.

Currently, Taiwan Semiconductor is conducting 2-nanometer process testing with major companies such as Apple, NVIDIA, and AMD. Apple is expected to be the first company to use Taiwan Semiconductor's 2-nanometer process for mass production; in fact, the latest processors for iPhone and Mac are exclusively produced by Taiwan Semiconductor.

However, Taiwan Semiconductor's competitor, Samsung Electronics, is also making every effort to enhance the yield of the 2-nanometer process and is pushing existing clients, such as Japan's PFN, to conduct tests in order to compete for the 2-nanometer process market.

Some analyses indicate that as semiconductor design companies increasingly rely on Taiwan Semiconductor for processes below 3 nanometers, the shortage of production capacity and rising prices exacerbate the situation. Over time, the willingness of semiconductor design firms to diversify their choices among Contract Manufacturers is also growing.

Samsung not only needs to improve the current yield of the 2-nanometer process but also has to elevate performance to the level expected by clients. This could be Samsung's last chance for its Contract Manufacturing business, which has already suffered losses of trillions of South Korean won.

Editor/new