Apple may be on the verge of losing a long-standing advantage at TSMC, even as it reportedly locks in a massive share of the chipmaker’s first wave of 2nm production. New chatter suggests the relationship that once helped Apple secure early access to the most advanced silicon could be shifting, fueled by soaring demand for AI hardware that’s changing who matters most to the world’s top foundry.
According to a tipster posting on Weibo, Apple has secured more than half of TSMC’s initial 2nm capacity, with a large portion of those wafers expected to go toward Apple’s next-generation A20 and A20 Pro processors rumored for the iPhone 18 lineup. On the surface, that sounds like business as usual: Apple paying top dollar to be first in line for the newest manufacturing node.
But the bigger story is about priorities, pricing, and power—and who brings TSMC the most money today.
The same tipster claims TSMC CEO C.C. Wei visited Apple’s headquarters to push what was described as the largest price increase in recent years. The implication is clear: smartphone chip orders, even from Apple, may no longer carry the same weight they once did. As AI accelerators and data center GPUs dominate demand, TSMC’s biggest revenue drivers are shifting away from mobile.
That’s a meaningful change because Apple and TSMC have long been viewed as a near-perfect partnership. Apple routinely accounted for a huge chunk of TSMC’s revenue, and for years the iPhone maker was widely assumed to receive preferred treatment for the most advanced manufacturing processes. There have even been past claims that Apple gets “better” wafer batches, though analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has previously pushed back on some of those allegations, noting that TSMC doesn’t simply absorb the cost of defective wafers.
Still, the perception of Apple getting first access to cutting-edge nodes has been persistent—and often grounded in reality, given Apple’s enormous volume and willingness to pay premium prices for performance and efficiency advantages.
Now, however, the AI boom is reshaping the playing field. Apple reportedly contributed about 24 percent of TSMC’s annual revenue in 2024, but momentum is shifting toward AI-focused customers. The same Weibo post notes that NVIDIA has become TSMC’s largest customer, representing an estimated 13 percent of total revenue, underscoring how quickly the center of gravity has moved toward AI compute.
Pricing pressure is also building at the leading edge. Reports indicate tight supply for 2nm wafers, and with demand overwhelming capacity, TSMC is said to be increasing prices for advanced nodes for four consecutive years beginning in 2026. Even if Apple isn’t the only company facing higher costs, it may feel the impact in a very direct way. One estimate places Apple’s A20 chip cost at around $280 per unit—an eye-catching number that suggests leading-edge silicon could become significantly more expensive for premium smartphones.
At the same time, Apple isn’t the only major customer betting big on 2nm. The next node is reportedly seeing far more activity than the last transition, with claims that 2nm has logged about 1.5 times more tape-outs than 3nm. That points to a larger crowd of companies racing to secure early production, including other mobile chip designers as well as AI and high-performance computing players.
For Apple, the risk isn’t necessarily a shortage of chips—especially if it truly has reserved a significant portion of early 2nm capacity. The concern is that the broader market dynamics could weaken Apple’s negotiating leverage on pricing and delivery priority. If AI-focused customers are delivering faster growth and bigger margins, TSMC may feel less pressure to treat smartphone orders as the crown jewel.
Looking ahead, the AI surge is also driving enormous spending at TSMC. The company’s capital expenditure for the year is expected to reach unprecedented levels, estimated at $52 billion to $56 billion, as it scales advanced manufacturing to meet demand. That investment should expand capacity over time, but in the near term, it also highlights just how much of the industry’s future is being built around AI-scale compute.
The tipster ends with an open question: if the AI boom cools off, could Apple regain its previous level of influence? Possibly—but there’s little sign TSMC expects that to happen soon. For now, Apple may still be securing a big slice of 2nm, but the era of unquestioned priority treatment could be fading as AI becomes TSMC’s primary revenue engine.
