Apple has lost its long-held position as TSMC's largest customer in 2026 amid surging demand for AI chips, CNBC reports.
Nvidia is expected to overtake Apple as the single largest source of revenue for TSMC. Analyst estimates suggest Nvidia will generate approximately $33 billion in revenue for TSMC during 2026, representing roughly 22% of the foundry's total revenue, compared with an estimated $27 billion, or about 18%, attributable to Apple. Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang reportedly confirmed on a recent podcast that the transition has already occurred, saying that Nvidia is now TSMC's largest customer.
Apple has been widely regarded as TSMC's anchor customer for more than a decade. Apple relies on the Taiwanese company to manufacture its custom-designed A-series processors used in the iPhone and iPad, as well as its M-series chips for the Mac and iPad. That relationship has historically given Apple early access to TSMC's most advanced manufacturing technologies and allowed TSMC to justify the enormous capital investments required to develop each new generation of semiconductor process nodes.
The change reflects a rapid expansion in Nvidia's demand, driven by the global build-out of artificial intelligence infrastructure, where its graphics processing units are widely used as accelerators in data centers operated by major cloud service providers.
One key factor behind Nvidia's rising share of TSMC revenue is the nature of the chips it needs. AI accelerators are significantly larger, more complex, and more expensive to manufacture than Apple's A- or M-series chips. They often require leading-edge process nodes, advanced packaging techniques, and higher wafer costs, all of which translate into higher revenue per chip for TSMC. While Apple ships far higher volumes of processors overall, it requires smaller system-on-a-chip designs optimized for power efficiency and consumer devices, resulting in lower manufacturing costs per unit.
TSMC's growing reliance on AI customers could have direct implications for Apple. While it remains one of the foundry's most important customers, it is no longer the primary driver of TSMC's capacity expansion or capital expenditure decisions. Analysts say that Nvidia has effectively taken Apple's place as the scale customer that helps guide development and justify increased investment in each new leading-edge process node.
