We all know about Apple’s announcement regarding their decision to house the Arm-based Apple silicon chips instead of the Intel-based chips in their upcoming Mac lineup. Amidst the announcement, the question of the production of Apple silicon chips arose.
The history of collaboration between Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Apple, along with the extensive range of up to date silicon nodes offered by TSMC, made it pretty obvious that Apple will be choosing TSMC as its supplier for its custom made chips. As per the anticipated order quantity to be received by TSMC in 2021, Apple Silicon chips confirms that Apple will be its largest consumer.
On the other hand, Apple has decided to use the ASMedia USB controller for its Arm-based Macs. This software(Host Controllable Driver) will allow for better communication between the external devices connected to the mac and the apple silicon chip.
This will also allow the USB 4.0 port to be integrated into the chassis of the upcoming Arm-based MacBook line up.USB 4.0 port is expected to have a transfer speed of up to 40 gigabits per second. The new upcoming Macs will also support Thunderbolt3. We can assume that the upcoming Mac-books will be cheaper than the previous versions as they will be based on Arm-based processors(cheaper as compared to Intel) and a ton of features to expand Apple’s consumer base.
Via Techpowerup