1 Billion Dollars in A20 Pro Chips Stalled in TSMC Warehouses, Apple Lacks RAM

Despite TSMC’s record production capacity, Apple finds itself facing an unforeseen obstacle that seriously threatens its roadmap.

The Cupertino giant is currently grappling with a severe DRAM memory shortage, a situation that has blocked the A20 Pro chips for an estimated value of $1 billion at the supplier’s facilities in Taiwan.

The strong demand for components driven by new players linked to artificial intelligence has drained global RAM supplies, putting the launch of the upcoming iPhone 18 at risk and slowing the distribution of other key devices such as the MacBook Air.

iPhone 18 at risk? $1 billion in stalled chips because RAM is missing

The root of the bottleneck lies in a highly aggressive race to hoard hardware components. Numerous tech companies are investing substantial capital to secure memory supplies, in particular LPDDR5X RAM, extremely sought-after modules for high bandwidth and low power consumption.

This buying frenzy has put Apple in a difficult position, forcing it to wait in line to contend with the dynamics of a market driven by needs that go beyond the traditional smartphone sector.

The California leadership has explored several avenues to circumvent the obstacle, initiating tight negotiations with longtime suppliers and seeking economically advantageous deals with the Chinese manufacturer CXMT.

However, these negotiation attempts did not yield the hoped-for results, leaving the company with few options other than paying inflated sums to unlock shipments.

TSMC’s Pace and the Hold-Up of A20 Pro Chips

While Apple desperately seeks solutions to procure memory wafers, the Asian foundry continues to operate at notable production rates. The foundry expects to reach a monthly output of 100,000 wafers for the advanced process 2 nm by the end of 2026.

Plants in Taiwan, including Longtan’s Fab 3 which handles the production and application of the new method Wafer-Level Multi-Chip Module Packaging (WMCM), are running at full tilt to meet demand.

Historically, Apple’s flagship processors enter mass production between July and August, ensuring adequate volumes ahead of pre-orders following the September launches. This year, the DRAM shortage precludes the massive $1 billion supply of A20 Pro chips from moving to the next assembly stages.

Chain-reaction Delays

The inability to pair the semiconductors with the necessary memory risks triggering a chain reaction across the entire production line, with the final stages taking place in plants in China.

Future smartphones require high-capacity, fast, ready-to-use memory. If the shortage of these modules is not resolved promptly, the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max could face an exceptional delay relative to the usual company timelines.

The knock-on effects of this bottleneck are, unfortunately, already visible in other segments of the catalog: MacBook Air shipments have shown significant delays in recent weeks, making the machines unavailable to end consumers until September.