AMD overtakes Apple as TSMC's main 7nm customer

Chinese media site MyDrivers has reported information from an unnamed source stating that AMD has now become TSMC’s largest customer for 7nm wafers. The previous incumbent of the position, Apple, has given up the title presumably because of its plans with 5nm silicon, as evidenced by reports that Cupertino has already reserved 80% of TSMC’s 5nm production.

As well as overtaking Apple, AMD has apparently increased its 7nm orders by 80% for this year compared to last year. Although the source didn’t state where the orders were headed, it seems reasonable to speculate that Zen 3 products, including the new Xbox/PlayStation consoles, will be the main consumers. AMD’s mainstream Zen 3 family incorporates the mobile Cezanne CPUs, the Ryzen 5000 Vermeer desktop processors, and the recently launched EPYC Milan server chips.

There has been a lot of news written about Ryzen 5000 chip shortages, and while Team Red will want to tackle supply issues for desktop parts, it will also want to make sure that orders for EPYC Milan are filled as quickly as possible. Server CPU market share for AMD has increased against Intel while desktop and laptop processor share has dipped, so unsurprisingly the company will want to capitalize on this momentum by ensuring there are enough EPYC Milan chips to go around.

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