Episode micro-network reported on August 5
According to media reports last week, this year's new iPhone has started mass production, which is expected to be released as scheduled in September. However, the latest news shows that TSMC has been attacked by viruses or has an impact on the pace of mass production of new iPhones.
On the evening of August 3, the world's largest chip foundry company TSMC's computer was infected with a virus, affecting some computer systems and factory machines in Taiwan's factory. According to media reports, TSMC's affected part is mainly concentrated in the 7-nanometer process, including bamboo. Branches, Zhongke and Nanke have all reported disasters. The affected capacity is about 60,000 pieces, and in addition to 7 nanometers, some 12, 16 nanometer processes are also affected.
The news immediately attracted the attention of Apple's supply chain. Because Apple has already started the mass production of the new iPhone, the new 7nm A12 chip on the new iPhone is being produced by TSMC.
It is reported that TSMC officially started the production of the A12 processor in June this year. According to the current production time of the whole machine has been started in Foxconn, the current or the A12 processor in the production peak of TSMC.
Judging from the exposure information, the impact of the incident was mainly concentrated on the 7-nanometer process. In addition, TSMC is still the exclusive manufacturer of A12 processors, so the impact on the new iPhone mass production rhythm is very clear.
In TSMC's announcement today, this is also clarified from the side. TSMC said that the virus infection incident will lead to delays in wafer shipments. At present, most of TSMC's customers have received notice of relevant events. TSMC is working closely with customers. , communicate their wafer delivery schedule.
The TSMC announcement also revealed that the impact of the incident on the company's third quarter revenue was about 3%, and the impact of gross margin was about one percent. TSMC also said that it is confident that the number of wafer shipments delayed in the third quarter. It will be replenished in the fourth quarter, and the full-year outlook will continue to maintain high single-digit growth.
According to previous experience, Apple will release a new iPhone in September this year. It is reported that there are three products this year, including 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch OLED iPhone and a 6.1-inch LCD model.
Apple industry chain analyst Guo Minghao predicts that the estimated shipment of the new iPhone will reach 80-90 million units in 2018. Among them, the most optimistic 6.1-inch LCD iPhone is expected to account for 50% to 55% of the total.