Soaring artificial intelligence workloads and higher fabrication expenses have pushed TSMC’s advanced nodes to near-full utilization. Major clients including AMD, Nvidia, Google and Tesla have begun qualifying Samsung and Intel as alternative foundries to mitigate potential supply interruptions arising from capacity bottlenecks, geopolitical tensions and escalating costs.

Apple engineers are conducting pilot runs of lower-end application processors and connectivity chips at Samsung’s and Intel’s fabs to relieve pressure on TSMC. While these secondary suppliers lack the maturity of TSMC’s 3nm and 5nm processes, Apple aims to allocate less performance-critical components away from its core leading-edge chip orders.

Diversifying manufacturing partners could bolster Apple’s supply-chain resilience and provide leverage in pricing negotiations, but may introduce yield and performance trade-offs. In the near term, Apple’s high-end SoCs for iPhone and Mac will remain locked to TSMC, preserving product roadmaps while gradually building alternative capacity for non-flagship parts.