TSMC Is Willing to Bear the Cost of Chip Wafer Damage to Keep Apple as a Customer

 Not all wafers used to produce chips can be used. Often customers who order chips from manufacturers have to pay the production costs of all used wafers including damaged ones. But according to a report by The Information today, TSMC agreed to only charge Apple for successfully produced chips and cover the cost of defective wafers itself.

This is unprecedented and Apple is given an advantage by TSMC as they are the largest customer of TSMC's 3nm technology which has already started production this year. The Apple A17 chip and the Apple M3 series are both manufactured using TSMC's 3nm technology. In some previous reports, the percentage of wafers that can be used through TSMC technology is only between 55-80%.

With Apple being their biggest customer, any losses due to defects in wafers may be offset by the long-term gains of Apple being their customer. Samsung also has their own 3nm technology but some reports say it has a lower wafer yield than TSMC at the moment causing not many customers to use their fabs.