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Comment by Detrytus | Hacker News Reader

This is what should be pointed out every time someone brings up Apple “monopolistic practices” of outbidding the competition for TSMC capacity: without money from Apple TSMC wouldn’t be able to finance building so many factories at once.

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Well, the chips that TSMC make are incredibly coveted regardless of Apple's behavior. They would still be being paid outrageous sums compared to the other chip makers if Apple's didn't buy up their whole supply. Maybe they'd be only be building two more gigantic fabs instead of three, or however many they have in production right now.

> They would still be being paid outrageous sums compared to the other chip makers

By very definition the prices are not outrageous. They have a superior product, and the market has determined what it’s worth.

I would say TSMC product is actually a half product. They have a fabrication process, but they do not have their own chip design. And there is no way in hell that Intel or AMD processors would reach the same profit margins as M3. Which is why Apple, who has the best product, can make the highest bid.

I don't know which can pay more, Apple iPhone vs Nvidia DGX. Perhaps even if Nvidia can pay more than Apple, their chip is so big so not suitable for first bleeding edge chip.

Well, Apple's revenue is $89B per quarter, NVIDIA's record-breaking revenue recently was $13B, so here's your answer. NVIDIA might have high margins on some of their products, but Apple has both high margins and high volume. DXG is a niche product, but everyone owns an iPhone or a Macbook.

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