[stevievee]

On 2)... TSMC produces the M1 and it will be interesting if they eventually enter the fab business... Apple is one of the few companies with the required capital. This is all on the heels of the news that Samsung is planning a foundry in the U.S.

[GeekyBear]

Apple's usual way of doing business with Tim Cook running the supply chain is to buy a supplier a manufacturing line in return for guaranteed production levels on exactly the part they want.

This is the first case of this in action that I can remember.

>CUPERTINO, California—November 21, 2005—Apple® today announced that it has reached long-term supply agreements with Hynix, Intel, Micron, Samsung Electronics and Toshiba to secure the supply of NAND flash memory through 2010. As part of these agreements, Apple intends to prepay a total of $1.25 billion for flash memory components during the next three months.

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2005/11/21Apple-Announces-Lon...

Here's a more recent example.

>(Reuters) - Apple Inc on Tuesday said it would award Corning Inc $250 million from a $5 billion fund dedicated to U.S. advanced manufacturing.

In the past, Apple has made long-term supply agreements here with its vendors in which it provides upfront cash to lock in supplies of parts and better prices.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-corning/apple-award...

[simonh]

Ive seen this suggested a few times and I don't believe it. Apple is only intersted in the latest cutting edge processes, those are the ones that give them competitive advantage. The problem is no process stays cutting edge forever. After a few years it becomes a commodity process.

That's not a problem for TSMC who has plenty of customers for commodity nodes, but it would be a millstone round Apple's neck. They don't want to be in the business of owning a commodity process line used by their competitors.