Taiwanese sons of the soil block Apple’s chipmaker from building a 1nm chip factory

If you don’t get your iPhone with a 1nm chip inside soon enough, you could blame the Taiwanese sons of soil. Local residents in the Longtan rural area have protested loud enough to thwart TSMC’s plans to build a new factory for 1nm chips.

TSMC, short for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, is Apple’s main chipmaker (they produced the 3nm A17 Pro for the iPhone 15 Pro duo), so anything that affects TSMC affects the Cupertino giant.

Located in the northern part of the island, Longtan was initially chosen by TSMC for its next factory, but that meant that locals had to relocate for the future industrial park to be built (via 9to5Mac). They objected, and TSMC has agreed to look elsewhere.

TSMC could get help from the government to find a new home for the cutting-edge tech factory – they need a specific amount of land, water and power (lots and lots of it), so one can’t just build it wherever they want to. Given that semiconductors are probably the most important Taiwanese industry, it’s not surprising that they could get government aid.

There are already some that invite TSMC over at their place – like Chen Chi-Mai, mayor of Kaohsiung in the south. Per Reuters, Chen Chi-Mai said that his city has enough water, power, and land for more semiconductor factories: “Opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared”, he told reporters. Currently, TSMC is building a 2-nanometre chip factory in Kaohsiung.

A18 Pro chip for all iPhone 16 models?

Just the other day an interesting rumor surfaced on the topic that we’re discussing here – chips and iPhones. An analyst claims that next year, Apple will put the same A18 Pro chip in all four new iPhone 16 models. If this turns out to be true, it would completely reverse the decision by Apple to put different chips in Pro and non-Pro phones, reserving the cutting-edge technology for the latter pair. This started last year with the iPhone 14 series.