Apple appears to be looking to strengthen its relationship with its chip supplier, TSMC. In 2023, the business may intend to have its own iPhone 5G modem made by the world's largest contract chipmaker.
According to a NikkeiAsia article, insiders close to the situation have stated that the Cupertino-based company intends to construct its first in-house modem using TSMC's 4nm technology. In addition, the company is building its own radio frequency and millimeter wave components to go with the modem. Similarly, the sources stated that Apple is developing its own power management component for the modem.
For those who are unaware, Qualcomm provides modems in all of the 5G-enabled iPhones that are now on the market. In other words, Apple's approach would effectively terminate the American chipmaker's stranglehold on 5G modem supply. According to our prior research, Qualcomm is only slated to supply 20% of iPhone modems in 2023, because Apple will debut its own 5G modem the same year.
This would allow the iPhone maker to not only save money on Qualcomm fees, but also to have even more control over its hardware integration capability, which would increase efficiency. Furthermore, Apple's self-designed modem might aid in the integration of it into its proprietary iPhone SoCs, which are also provided by TSMC. In 2019, the company also purchased Intel's modem division in order to accelerate the development of its own modems.