Soon Apple Might be making its own Chips

Apple may be one of Silicon Valley’s most closely guarded corporations, but its aspirations to bring all component manufacturing in-house have long been known. Apple is apparently seeking to replace wireless components supplied by Broadcom and Skyworks Solutions for its own products, in addition to removing Intel and AMD CPUs from Macs.is hiring “a few dozen workers” to build wireless radios, radio-frequency integrated circuits, a wireless SoC, and Bluetooth and wifi chips at its Irvine, Calif. factory, according to a Bloomberg story.

The news comes just one day after Apple informed employees that their plans for hybrid work would be postponed indefinitely. decision to replace its component suppliers, who have been producing wireless processors for the company for years, is unsurprising. analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted earlier this year that the Cupertino company will develop its own 5G modem, the chip that links you to a cellular network, to replace the Qualcomm modem used in the iPad and iPhone.

Apple has some wireless chip manufacturing experience; the current iPhone models contain an U1 ultra-wideband for locating and connecting with other U1-equipped devices, such as AirTags. In addition, the H1 chip in AirPods allows for faster and more secure Bluetooth connecting with other devices. Broadcom, Skyworks, and Qualcomm may soon lose one of their largest and most significant customers, same to how Intel was harmed by M chips.

We’ve contacted out to those companies, as well as Apple, for comment, and will update this piece if we receive a response. According to Bloomberg, the Irvine expansion is still in its early stages and will grow gradually; there is no specific timeline for when we can expect custom wireless chips in iPhones, Macs, and possibly an AR headset, though the aforementioned report from Kuo claims they will arrive in iPhones in 2023.