Apple Eases Chip Supply Strain as TSMC's 2 nm Yields Near 90%

Shortages have not gone away

During the last fiscal quarter, TSMC's production capacity on its most advanced nodes limited the availability of Apple's most sophisticated chips. The problem likely affected other TSMC customers too, including Nvidia, AMD and Qualcomm.

AI data centers add to the pressure. Chipmakers often find it more profitable to produce chips for those facilities than for consumer products, so some cutting-edge nodes are being absorbed by AI demand.

Apple has acknowledged that the situation is improving and has confirmed it is moving a larger share of its portfolio to the 2 nm process, DigiTimes reports. Even so, the company has faced supply constraints that hit iPhone, Mac and iPad production, and it expects limits to keep eroding Mac and iPad output in the final quarter of 2026. Apple now points to memory chip availability as the origin of the problem.

Why it matters

Higher yields mean more usable chips per wafer, which should speed up the arrival of 2 nm silicon in more Apple products, although the rollout may still be slower than the company would like. No hardware maker is immune: all are exposed to swings in critical minerals and to the strain of building large numbers of AI data centers. A healthy N2 yield helps, but the end of the component crisis still looks distant.