TSMC Arizona allegedly now producing AMD's Ryzen 9000 and Apple's S9 processors: Report
TSMC's Fab 21 in Arizona is gradually ramping up production, and recently it began to manufacture some of AMD's Ryzen 9000-series processors for client PCs as well as some ingredients of Apple's S9 system-in-package (SiP) for smart watches, reports Tim Culpan, a well-connected journalist, citing his own sources.
If the information is accurate, then TSMC's Fab 21 in the U.S. is now producing at least three chips: Apple's A16 Bionic system-on-chip for iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus smartphones, at least one IC in the Apple S9 SiP for smart watches (we presume this is the actual application processor with two 64-bit cores and a quad-core neural engine), and one of AMD's Ryzen 9000-series CPU. All of the said processors are made using TSMC's 4nm-class N4 and N4P technologies.
Tim Culpan reports that TSMC makes "Grand Rapids" CPU for AMD and this is certainly not a codename that we have heard of before. It is entirely possible that AMD uses a previously unknown silicon — perhaps featuring specific capabilities and aimed at select applications — to test TSMC's Fab 21 in Arizona. However, it makes more sense to test a new fab with a familiar silicon. Moreover, considering that Culpan sources are from Taiwan and a lot of communications happen verbally, it is possible that some of the sources made a slip of the tongue and called Granite Ridge as Grand Rapids. Granite Ridge is of course a familiar silicon for AMD.
