News Summary

TSMC has commenced the production of Apple’s S9 chip for the Apple Watch at its facility in Phoenix, Arizona. This marks the first time Apple Watch chips are being fabricated in the United States. The S9 chip, which debuted with the Apple Watch Series 9, features a 64-bit dual processor, 64GB of internal memory, and a four-core Neural Engine. The Arizona plant, known as Fab 21, is part of TSMC’s expansion outside Taiwan and is also producing chips for other clients like AMD. Currently, the facility operates Phase 1A with a capacity of 10,000 wafers per month, which is set to increase to 24,000 wafers per month by early 2025 with the start of Phase 1B.