Tim Cook Doesn't See A Path Back To Chip Vendors: 'We Like To Own The Primary Technologies In The Products That We Ship'

During a fourth-quarter earnings call, Apple Inc. AAPL CEO Tim Cook reaffirmed the company’s dedication to using internal silicon and underlined their strategic focus on owning primary technologies in their products. 

What Happened: In response to a question posed by Piper Sandler’s Harsh Kumar during the earnings call, Cook elaborated on Apple’s approach to in-house chip development and its economic and strategic significance.

He made it clear that Cupertino’s transition to in-house silicon production has not only been economically profitable but also enabled the company to create products that would have been impossible without it. 

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The CEO highlighted the critical role that silicon plays at the heart of their primary technologies, driving their decision to take ownership of this integral component.

“It’s really enabled us to build products that we could not build without doing it ourselves. And as you know, we like to own the primary technologies in the products that we ship, and arguably, the silicon is at the heart of the primary technologies.”

When asked whether he sees a “path back to chip vendors at some point in time?” 

Cook said, “I don’t see going back. I am happier today than I was yesterday, than I was last week that we made the transition that we’ve made, and I see that benefit every day of it.”

Why It’s Important: Cook’s statement came just days after Apple launched its latest proprietary chips, which consist of the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max. At the time, the tech giant said it was the first personal computer chip series manufactured using a more efficient 3-nanometer process. 

For the unversed, in 2020, Apple began using their own custom-designed chips in Mac computers instead of the ones made by Intel Corporation INTC. 

These new chips are similar to the ones used in iPhones and iPads. 

This transition was completed in 2023 when the tech giant introduced a new Mac Pro with Apple silicon. Simply put, now all Mac computers use their own chips, and Intel chips are not in Apple’s picture anymore.

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