Inside Apple’s Plan for 1.4nm Chips in 2028

Those gains translate to practical improvements for iPhones. Reports point to better on-device AI inference for tasks like real-time photo processing and Siri requests, faster image signal processing for the camera pipeline, and longer battery life from reduced transistor switching power . For a device category where thermal headroom and battery capacity are tightly constrained, the efficiency side of the equation is often more important than the peak performance uplift.

The Foundry Picture: TSMC Leads, Intel Waits in the Wings

TSMC as the Primary Supplier

TSMC remains Apple’s cornerstone manufacturing partner for the A22 Pro. The chipmaker will handle the majority of production from its massive new site called Fab 25, located in the Central Taiwan Science Park near Taichung .

The campus is an unprecedented build-out. TSMC plans to construct four dedicated fabs for the 1.4nm node—internally branded as A14—at a total investment estimated between $48.5 billion and $49 billion . Risk production is targeted for late 2027, with volume production ramping in the second half of 2028 . The first fab alone is expected to start with a monthly capacity of roughly 50,000 wafers .

Wafer costs on the A14 node are projected to reach approximately $45,000 each, reflecting the extreme capital intensity of next-generation lithography .

Intel as a Secondary Supplier

The more surprising development is Intel’s potential inclusion in the supply chain. Bloomberg reports that Apple is evaluating Intel as a secondary source for A22 Pro chips to diversify geographic risk . Intel has been developing its own 1.4nm-class process node, called 14A, and has outlined a roadmap targeting mass production in 2028 .

Analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities has reinforced the Intel angle in multiple research notes, indicating that Intel could start producing non-Pro iPhone chips for Apple on its 14A node beginning in 2028 . Earlier speculation also pointed to Intel first supplying lower-end M-series chips for iPads and Macs, potentially starting around 2027 .

If both TSMC and Intel participate, the split would likely be asymmetric—Apple would remain overwhelmingly dependent on TSMC for the highest-volume and highest-margin Pro chips, while Intel would handle a smaller, less risky slice of the production mix . For Intel, it would represent a foundry validation milestone under CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s turnaround effort, proving to the market that an external customer as demanding as Apple trusts its advanced node .

The Silicon Roadmap: From 3nm to 1.4nm

To understand the weight of the 1.4nm transition, it helps to look at the arc Apple has laid out across four iPhone generations:

• 2025 – iPhone 17 series: Built on TSMC’s third-generation 3nm process (N3P), powering the A19 and A19 Pro chips .
• 2026 – iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max, and a foldable model: Expected to debut TSMC’s 2nm node with the A20 Pro, marking the first shrink since the A17 Pro brought 3nm to the iPhone 15 Pro in 2023 .
• 2027 – iPhone generation: Reports indicate Apple will stay on 2nm for a second year, consistent with the cadence seen at 5nm and 7nm, before jumping again .
• 2028 – High-end iPhone: The leap to 1.4nm arrives with the A22 Pro, skipping a half-node step like 1.6nm and going directly to a full angstrom-scale class process .

The initial rollout of 1.4nm chips is expected to be limited to Pro-tier iPhones, with volume constraints and yields making it impractical to cover Apple’s entire phone lineup in the first year .

What’s Still Unconfirmed—and What Could Change

The roadmap laid out here is built on pre-production timelines, analyst reports, and supplier status disclosures. Several pieces are still in motion. TSMC’s ability to hit mass production in the second half of 2028 depends on the yield ramp during risk production in 2027. Intel’s involvement is contingent on the 14A node demonstrating competitive performance, power, and defect density—something that will not be proven until much closer to 2028.

Apple has not publicly committed to the A22 Pro naming or the exact models that will receive it. And the geopolitical dynamics around semiconductor supply chains—particularly any requirements to increase U.S.-based manufacturing—could alter how Apple allocates volume between Taiwanese and American fabs .

What is clear is that Apple is placing a bet on 1.4nm arriving on time and at scale, with enough confidence that it is already building the dual-source manufacturing framework to de-risk it.