The FT reports that Apple is moving ahead with plans to replace iPhone wireless communications chips made by Broadcom and Qualcomm, and to make its own displays.
Apple is taking charge of the silicon “brains” in the iPhone and iPad, as well as an increasing number of Macs, says the FT, adding that before Tim Cook became CEO he said that Apple wanted “to own and control the primary technologies behind the products that we make”.
The FT claims that “suppliers have been pushed towards lower-margin and more capital-intensive activities” as Apple takes over more of the design work.
“The risks in Apple’s business from this concentration have started to become more evident. They include the violent protests last year at Foxconn’s giant iPhone plant in Zhengzhou over China’s Covid-19 policy. Meanwhile, the potential security threat to Taiwan has highlighted its dependence on chipmaker TSMC. Some diversification looks likely, both in the range of suppliers as well as their location, but the effects of Apple’s technology strategy will be hard to offset. Large parts of the global electronics supply chain have already been remade around the iPhone. The process is far from over.”
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