Skip to main content

Your next MacBook could be in short supply thanks to US skills shortage

The Apple M3 chip could be hit with delays after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) announced this week that it was delaying the opening of its Arizona chip fabrication plant until 2025.

Citing the shortage of skilled workers needed to install the extremely technical equipment used in the manufacturing of chip wafers, TSMC is pushing back its planned opening of its first US chip manufacturing plant from 2024 into 2025. Construction on the plant began in 2021.

"We are encountering certain challenges, as there is an insufficient amount of skilled workers with the specialized expertise required for equipment installation in a semiconductor-grade facility," TSMC Chairman Mark Liu said in Nikkei Asia. "We expect the production schedule of N4 process technology to be pushed out to 2025."

N4 is TSMC's 4nm process node, but Nikkei Asia reported last year that TSMC was also hoping to move some of its 3nm production to the Arizona plant. Apple is reportedly using the existing N3 (3nm) process line in Taiwan for its M3-series chips, as well as its A17 Bionic mobile chip. These have reportedly been hit by delays as TSMC has had issues with some of the wafers coming off the N3 line.

To help get the new Arizona plant online, TSMC is flying out trained technical staff and engineers from its Taiwanese plants to make up for the lack of trained and qualified personnel in the US.

TSMC still has an operational N3 process line in Taiwan, so Apple won't be without any advanced process node to make its chips, but that does mean that until the Arizona plant opens, they will all have to rely on any available capacity at the Taiwanese plants.

Apple M3 won't be pushed off to 2024, but MacBooks might be harder to get in 2024

Considering that Apple is one of TSMC's biggest customers, it's unlikely that the Arizona plant's delay will hold up the entire M3 chip rollout, which many will expect will come later this year with a new Apple iMac. However, Nvidia is also putting demands on TSMC's 3nm process for its RTX 5000-series GPUs, according to our friends at PC Gamer, so how much Apple will be able to scale its orders for 2024 isn't clear.

Another key will be the refreshes of Apple MacBook Air and MacBook Pro devices, the former set to use an Apple M3 Chip while the latter will use a mix of M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max, depending on the size of the laptop.

With these refreshes likely in 2024 and early 2025, having another plant in the US churning out 3nm chips would definitely help the availability of these products at launch, something that Apple has struggled with in previous years when customers had to wait for weeks for the delivery of a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air that they had preordered.

With the Arizona plant initially scheduled to begin N4 production in late 2024, with N3 production at some point after that, these extra nodes might have helped speed up delivery times. Hopefully the outlook for TSMC's first US plant in over 20 years improves in the months ahead, but it's not looking good at the moment.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Windows Copilot leak suggests deeper assimilation with Windows 11 features

Key Windows 11 features may soon be customizable as Microsoft further integrates its Windows Copilot AI assistant into the operating system. This tidbit comes from tech news site Windows Latest , which claims to have discovered new .json (JavaScript Object Notation) files within recent preview builds of Windows 11. These files apparently hint at future upgrades for the desktop AI assistant. For example, a “TaskManagerService-ai-plugin.json” was found which is supposedly a “plugin for Task Manager integration”. If this ever comes out, it could give users the ability to “monitor or close running apps using” Copilot. In total, six are currently tested and they affect various aspects of Windows 11. Next, there is an “AccessbilityTools-ai-plugin.json” that gives Copilot a way to “control accessibility [tools]. This would make it "easier for those with [a] disability to navigate through the system.” Third is “ai-plugin-WindowsSettings.json” for controlling important Windows 11 set...
Post a Comment
Read more

Google Chrome releases security fix for this major flaw, so update now

Google says it has fixed a high-severity flaw in its Chrome browser which is currently being exploited by threat actors in the wild.  In a security advisory , the company described the flaw being abused and urged the users to apply the fix immediately.  "Google is aware that an exploit for CVE-2023-2033 exists in the wild," the advisory reads. Automatic updates The zero-day in question is a confusion weakness vulnerability in the Chrome V8 JavaScript engine, the company said. Usually, this type of flaw can be used to crash the browser, but in this case it can also be used to run arbitrary code on compromised endpoints.  The flaw was discovered by Clement Lecigne from the Google Threat Analysis Group (TAG). Usually, TAG works on finding flaws abused by nation-states, or state-sponsored threat actors. There is no word on who the threat actors abusing this flaw are, though. Read more > Patch Google Chrome now to fix this emergency security flaw > Emergency...
Post a Comment
Read more

Samsung's ViewFinity S9 may be the monitor creatives have been searching for

Originally revealed during CES 2023 , Samsung has finally launched its ViewFinity S9 5K monitor after nine long months of waiting.  According to the announcement, the ViewFinity S9 is the company’s first-ever 5K resolution (5,120 x 2880 pixels) IPS display aimed primarily at creatives. IPS stands for in-plane switching , a form of LED tech offering some of the best color output and viewing angles on the market. This quality is highlighted by the fact that the 27-inch screen supports 99 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut plus delivers 600 nits of brightness.  Altogether, these deliver great picture quality made vibrant by saturated colors and dark shadows. The cherry on top for the ViewFinity S9 is a Matte Display coating to “drastically [reduce] light reflections.”  As a direct rival to the Apple Studio Display , the monitor is an alternative for creative professionals looking for options. It appears Samsung has done its homework as the ViewFinity S9 addresses some of...
Post a Comment
Read more