Apple might soon start designing a 5G modem for chipsets on its own. The Cupertino tech giant might design a 5G modem for its chipsets used in the iPhones. Apple’s iPhones run on the A-series chipsets that have been designed in-house. Apple has already spent over a billion dollars in 2019 for acquiring Intel’s smartphone modem chip business.
Now, a Bloomberg report suggests that Apple is looking to hire dozens of engineers for a new office in Southern California. The company is looking for engineers who are experienced with modem chipsets and other kinds of wireless semiconductors. The company might soon start designing its 5G modem chipsets for future generation iPhones.
TSMC to Manufacture the Apple’s 5G Designed Chip
The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is expected to manufacture Apple’s own 5G designed chipset. According to Gizmochina, the company might bring its own 5G modem designed chipset to the market in 2023.
Other reports suggest that as soon as Apple starts designing its own 5G modem, it will start designing its own Wi-Fi chipsets as well. Currently, Apple depends on Broadcom and Skyworks Solutions for its Wi-Fi chips.
But since Apple doesn’t have semiconductor facilities, it would have to again depend heavily on TSMC for manufacturing all of its chipsets. But this could backfire severely for the company as the tensions between Taiwan and China as well as China and the United States are quite high.
It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Apple going into semiconductor manufacturing in the coming years to reduce its dependence on others for manufacturing products. The Cupertino tech giant has already been making moves to reduce dependence on Intel for MacBook and iMac chipsets. It is only a matter of time before Apple starts semiconductor manufacturing of its own. Apple is known for keeping the quality of products in check, and getting complete control over manufacturing and designing is a great way to ensure that.
