Broadcom radio-chip deal leaves logic and memory production abroad
Apple said Wednesday that it will spend more than $30 billion with Broadcom over the next five years to produce radio and other chips in the United States, the largest single investment the company has specified as part of its $600 billion pledge to the U.S. economy. The iPhone maker said the deal will spur the production of more than 15 billion chips on U.S. soil.
The agreement is the latest in a series of moves by Apple to expand its domestic chip supply chain. The company has committed to buying chips from a new Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. facility under construction in Arizona, chip wafers from a GlobalWafers factory in Texas that feeds the TSMC plant, and advanced chip packaging from an Amkor Technology facility also being built in Arizona. Apple recently struck a separate deal with Intel to make some of its chips in the U.S.
The Trump administration has pushed to encourage more manufacturing in the U.S., securing commitments from a range of technology companies. Apple’s $600 billion, four-year investment pledge helped the company secure an exemption from proposed Trump administration tariffs, according to the company.
The new Broadcom deal includes chips for 5G data and voice transmission, GPS navigation, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi. The amount Apple spends on those radio components is a fraction of what it spends on more expensive chips inside its devices, the company said.
Apple’s main logic processors are manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor, and its memory and storage chips come from companies such as Samsung and SK Hynix. Those memory chips have exploded in price since last fall because of demand from artificial-intelligence servers, prompting Apple to raise device prices.
Broadcom will expand a manufacturing facility in Fort Collins, Colorado, as part of the agreement, Apple said.