Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has been churning out Apple’s custom chips in its facilities in Taiwan, but Apple may be looking to boost domestic chip production.
According to a new report Thursday, the Cupertino company has been lobbying the US government on tax breaks to support domestic chip production.
In second and third-quarter disclosure reports, the company said it lobbied officials from the Treasury Department, Congress and the White House on tax topics including ‘issues related to tax credits for domestic semiconductor production.’
It would free Apple from worrying about tariffs and trade tensions between the US and China.
Apple’s recent lobbying coincides with a push by the company and its partners to move some production away from China and even back to the US in a few cases. There’s also a broader effort by the US semiconductor industry to get government support for increased domestic production.
TSMC earlier this year said it would open an advanced $12 billion semiconductor factory in Arizona, Texas, focused on building five-nanometer chips. Apple’s latest A14 Bionic chip in the iPhone 12 and iPad Air 4 is built on TSMC’s five-nanometer process.