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by Reason077 721 days ago
> "One thing is for sure, it's not a silicon fab."

Why do you say that? Yes, the EPA report seems to be redacted to obscure what they're actually doing there. But there are multiple reports, some from Apple employees, that refer to it as a being some sort of small scale, "skunkworks" silicon fab.
2 comments
insaneirish 721 days ago
> Why do you say that?

Mainly because Apple's custom silicon could not even be prototyped in a small scale facility. It'd likely be in Taiwan.

> But there are multiple reports, some from Apple employees, that refer to it as a being some sort of small scale, "skunkworks" silicon fab.

I apologize if I missed them. Please highlight. Curious of the credentials of the folks reporting such a thing, as well.

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talldayo 721 days ago
> It'd likely be in Taiwan.

For sampling new nodes and producing the bulk of their chips, sure. But anything that's not tied to ASML doesn't inherently need to take place in Taiwan. TSMC is in a hugely advantaged position with IP and scalability, but I think it's feasible that Apple could test new lithography techniques or large-scale dies in any sort of environment they choose. Nobody is necessarily implying that they're prototyping low-yield iPhone hardware there.

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joezydeco 720 days ago
Apple uses lots of other chips in the products besides the M-class mega processors being built at TSMC. Think of peripherals and MFI authentication chips.
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jhanschoo 721 days ago
It seems obvious to me that not every prototype needs to be done in TSMC's factories, and there are things that you can validate with cheaper processes.
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PROgrammerTHREE 720 days ago
https://photos5.appleinsider.com/gallery/60155-123531-000-le...

This is clearly not a factory.

And Bloomberg reported in 2018 that's where they've been prototyping their microLED display screens.

https://www.siliconvalley.com/2018/03/19/apple-secretly-deve... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-19/apple-is-...

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PROgrammerTHREE 720 days ago
According to numerous sources, it's microLED display screens that are made there: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-19/apple-is-... https://www.siliconvalley.com/2018/03/19/apple-secretly-deve...
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Reason077 720 days ago
This makes sense. A lot of the chemicals listed in the reports are those used in chip fabrication, but I'd imagine the same ones are also used in microLED fabrication.
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