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Apple’s iPhone 8 just made this chip foundry chief a billionaire

Jul 13, 2017, 4:35 AM

Daniel Petrov

Apple’s iPhone 8 makes TSMC chief a billionaire

Apple, in its constant efforts to move away from Samsung as components supplier, has tasked the production of its 2017 edition A11 chipset entirely to the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC). Its 86-year-old chairman Morris Chang has just become a billionaire in the process. Shares of TSMC have jumped 27% in a year, making his stake in the company valued at a cool $1 billion.

This upshot in the foundry's valuation comes on the wings of the extra iPhone 8 business that analysts are convinced will cause major increase in demand for iPhones overall this and the next year. TSMC has modern 10nm production process, and even a 7nm one is in the works for next year, so the company will likely be able to supply the tens of millions of chipsets that Apple requires each year. Both new iPad Pro models are equipped with A10X processors, which were recently discovered to be Apple's first 10nm chip available in a commercial product, and the A11 will also be built on the same node that offers smaller footprint, higher performance, and less power consumption. Hear, hear.

source: Bloomberg