Re:AI is killing the cheap smartphone
by FarmerPotato on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @11:44AM
(#48281320)
A more realistic scenario that surely must have been considered is this:
They make a strategic investment in the DRAM maker. It's the same idea as buying an equity stake or entering a JV with a flat-panel maker. Or deploying cash to provide the latest EUV tooling to TSMC.
Large famous-brand computer maker has no expertise in running a fab.
I could punch holes in this idea right away. But it seems better than "tilting up your own fab".
One of the reasons Intel fell behind is that they couldn't give access to their competitors for business reasons, and therefore could never scale as high as TSMC could.
There are many other reasons, but accounting is a huge one. Unless there is a huge ROI or something else we don't otherwise know, I don't see Apple adding such expensive deprecating assets onto their books as chip fabs.