TSMC Plans to Double 16nm Chip Production in Preparation for iPhone 7

  by Mitchel Broussard

By new report from Economic Daily News (by means of DigiTimes), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has plans to double the output capacity of its 16nm chip production from 40,000 12-inch wafers in February to 80,000 in March. The news corroborates past reports that recommended TSMC was prepared to extend its 16nm FinFET generation limit in the second quarter of 2016, exclusively for the iPhone 7.

In a late financial specialists meeting, TSMC's co-CEO CC Wei said that the organization's rate offer of the 14/16nm business sector is relied upon to increment from 40 percent in 2015 to more than 70 percent in 2016. Apple isn't particularly referenced in the report today, yet among TSMC's other indicated 16nm clients - Xilinx, MediaTek, HiSilicon, Spreadtrum and Nvidia - it is one of the greater names.
The up and coming incline up of 16nm creation limit will float TSMC's business execution beginning March, the report cited market watchers as demonstrating. The foundry's 16nm FinFET forms comprising of 16FF (16nm FinFET), 16FF+ (16nm FinFET Plus) and 16FFC (16nm FinFET Compact) will create more than 20% of its aggregate wafer incomes in 2016.Previous rumors around the iPhone 7 production have pointed to Apple picking TSMC to be the sole manufacturer of the smartphone's processor, presumably called the A10. The foundry was said to have won over Apple because of its 10nm manufacturing process, and a likely attempt at avoiding the dual-sourced A9 chip blowback Apple saw in the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.