Apple's Implications for Semiconductor

By SemiWiki

January 30, 2015

Apple's iPhone 6 alone represents at least 50K wafer starts/month plus the iPad (A8X). What could the Iphone 6S/7 & A9 mean? What about the iWatch? Apple is the technology and volume driver of the semiconductor industry so lets take a look at the broader implications.

If we do the math the A8 is 89mm2 and 8.47 X 10.5mm. Using a die calculator that means that roughly 675 die can be squeezed onto a 12 inch wafer. If we assume a 75% yield we get 500 good die per wafer (I like to use round numbers). If we take 74.5 million iPhones over three months that's about 25 million a month (or 34K an hour...but who's counting?) Divided by 500 per wafer and you get 50K wafer starts a month, give or take, depending on yield etc... That sucks up a significant chunk of a fab and doesn't leave a lot of room for other customers.

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