[Someone]

I doubt they have the scale to make owning a fab worthwhile.

Certainly, unless they branch out into selling more mundane chips, they would have a problem using the capacity in their fabs for their own chips once those fabs get older.

[TechBro8615]

How is owning a fab not worthwhile for a company that produces billions of devices each containing multiple chips?

Sure you can make the arguments against vertical integration, but to "doubt they have the scale" when speaking of the most valuable company in the world, with a product in the hands of billions? If Apple doesn't have the scale, then who does?

[Someone]

Of course they have the money, but I don’t think they have the demand from their own products that can keep a fab running full-time through its lifetime. I just don’t see them selling low-end devices or producing low-end devices for others.

That would make owning a fab for themselves uneconomical.

Exception would be if they managed to build a fab that’s better than what others have, but I don’t see them do that, either.

On the other hand, TSMC, without Apple’s money, might not be as strong as it is with it, allowing Apple to beat it, and have the best fab.