Apple is currently searching for chips from U.S. and European factories for its products. The company has been seeking to diversify its supply chain for some time. This decision is a sign of an important step that the people of Cupertino would be acting. The Bloomberg website published a report with comments from Tim Cook, CEO of the company, talking about this diversification idea.
Apple has already made the decision to purchase a plant in Arizona, which will start production in 2024. This infers that these chips could be used by the company within two years. Cook also posited that the firm expects to “provide from Europe as those plans become more apparent.” The M2 is a chip designed specifically for Apple. It powers its MacBooks and iPhone A-series processors. They are produced by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). As the name indicates, the main base of this company is in the Asian country. However, the firm is working to have a facility in Arizona that would be producing chips by 2024.
Chips by hand and in close proximity
All of this would be possible with the passage of legislation by the U.S. government. It has allowed the investment of more than $50 billion dollars in domestic semiconductor production. Intel has already commented that it is planning to produce chips for other companies. In this way, it would no longer be dedicated solely to the manufacture of its own processors. However, it seems unlikely that Apple plans to make it a major part of its chip strategy in the future.
It is understood that the company’s leading-edge technology is not as advanced as TSMC’s, which was almost certainly a factor in Apple’s transition to silicon, for its Mac line. Regardless of which company or companies will manufacture the Cupertino-based chips, both in the United States and Europe, the move to buy more production capacity outside Asia is not necessarily a surprise.
Apple and a market expansion
Increasingly, technology companies are looking to diversify geographically in terms of points to achieve their supply chain. Part of this can be inferred from the increase in iPhone production in India over the past few years. Since 2020, Vietnam has been the epicenter of Airpods development and, according to reports circulating, they would also be doing the same with iPad, Apple Watch and MacBooks.
This situation shows how globalization has taken several industries out of their core industries. Although Silicon Valley is still the “mecca” for startups and all the world’s technology development, today it looks to the world with other intentions. Labor, labor laws, manufacturing and transportation costs are some of the variables that the technological giants take into account to carry out this “out of the box” work.
