00:00Apple is looking for a new chip maker, and that may be a good thing for the tech industry.
00:04The company has long been dependent on TSMC to manufacture the semiconductors that power
00:10its iPhones, its iPads, and its Macs.
00:13But it has now held preliminary talks with Intel and Samsung to see if they can step
00:18in as additional producers of the made-to-order chips in the United States.
00:22Apple executives have made visits to a Samsung plant under development in Texas, though neither
00:27effort has resulted in any concrete orders so far.
00:31Apple's dilemma is common in the tech industry.
00:33TSMC is by far the most dominant provider of the world's most advanced semiconductors,
00:39because it has mastered the complexities of manufacturing chips at the most demanding geometries.
00:45It makes Nvidia's GPUs, Qualcomm's wireless chips, Tesla's semiconductors, as well as Apple's silicon.
00:53But all these customers want alternatives, and they really haven't had any in recent years.
00:58Samsung and Intel have struggled to make progress in what's known as the foundry business,
01:02that is, manufacturing chips to the designs of customers like Apple.
01:07TSMC has a near monopoly on the high end of this business.
01:10So Apple's exploratory talks could help Intel and Samsung make progress in that business,
01:16and bring chip manufacturing to the United States.
01:19If that is, the early talks result in some real contracts.
01:22TSMC has a big deal ofником and the market before participating in the new contracts.
01:22Two-year contracts.
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