Since the beginning of this year, the overall performance of consumer electronics products has been weak, and manufacturers with strong supply chain control capabilities will naturally have to strictly control inventory. According to TheElec, Apple has suspended the production of M2 series chips in January this year due to the significant decline in MacBook demand.
▲ Apple M2 MacBook Air
It is said that the M2 chip is packaged in flip-chip, that is, the wafer is processed by TSMC, and then handed over to the core packaging and testing manufacturers (Amkor and STATSCipPAC Korea). The two Korean outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) companies eventually package it into complete chips.
However, neither of these two factories received the 5nm wafer of Apple’s M2 chip for packaging and testing in the first two months of this year, so they are basically in a state of shutdown. According to reports, the production of M2 series processors resumed in March, but the output was only half of the same period last year.
In February of this year, Apple had already warned of a “challenging” situation in the PC market during its earnings conference call for the first quarter of 2023. At that time, the company expected that Apple Silicon (including M2) would face short-term difficulties. Its Mac business recorded revenue of $7.7 billion in the first quarter, a year-on-year decrease of 30%, and predicted that Q2 revenue was expected to continue to decline.
Of course, the 2022 iPad Pro is also equipped with the M2 chip, but at present, it is mainly used in the new MacBook Pro, Mac mini models and the latest MacBook Air.
