Apple Faces Memory Shortage Impacting iPhone 18 Supply

A report that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is holding approximately $1 billion worth of unfinished Apple processors due to a global DRAM memory shortage has been disputed by a prominent industry analyst, though all sources agree that Apple is facing significant memory supply constraints that will impact its upcoming product launches.

The initial claim, first reported by analyst Tim Culpan, suggested that TSMC had accumulated a large stockpile of semifinished 2-nanometer processor wafers for Apple that could not undergo final packaging because the necessary mobile DRAM had not arrived. This bottleneck was attributed to Apple's adoption of a new wafer-level multichip module packaging approach, which requires memory to be integrated at the wafer stage rather than later in the assembly process. The report indicated this situation could lead to thin retail inventory and extended delivery times for the anticipated iPhone 18 lineup.

However, veteran supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities has publicly refuted the specific claim of a $1 billion inventory backlog. In posts on X, Kuo acknowledged that Apple has scaled back some hardware shipment...