In May of this year Patently Apple posted two TSMC reports. The first was titled “The Trump Administration may Sign a Deal Tomorrow with TSMC to build a Plant in Arizona by 2023 for Secret Military Chips+. The second report was titled “TSMC issues a Press Release confirming its commitment to an Arizona chip plant that may extend to U.S. ‘Customers & Partners’.” It now appears that Apple may in fact be one of those “partners” TSMC was alluding to.
According to a new Bloomberg report from Mark Gurman, “Apple Inc. has been lobbying the U.S. government on tax breaks to support domestic chip production, suggesting the iPhone maker is keen to move more of its supply chain to the U.S.
In second- and third-quarter disclosure reports, the company said it lobbied officials from the Treasury Department, Congress and the White House on tax topics including “issues related to tax credits for domestic semiconductor production.
Since releasing its first custom processor in 2010, chips have become a major performance differentiator for Apple. The company designs some of these components in house, but outsources production to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Many other parts for Apple devices are made in China. That has exposed the company to import tariffs and other risks from a trade war between the U.S. and China.
Taiwan, where TSMC operates, has also become an increasing focus of geopolitical tension between China and the U.S.
Apple’s recent lobbying, led by company veteran Tim Powderly, coincides with a push by the company and its partners to move some production away from China into India, Vietnam and even back to the U.S. in a few cases. There’s also a broader effort by the U.S. semiconductor industry to get government support for increased domestic production. For more, read the full Bloomberg report.
