Prominent analyst Ming-Chi Kuo refuted a market rumor. The rumor claimed Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) held approximately $1 billion worth of unfinished Apple processors. The rumor attributed this to a DRAM shortage, suggesting chips could not be packaged without necessary memory components.
Kuo acknowledges a tight memory supply. This issue led Apple to scale back some 2026 hardware shipment plans. However, he argues that close coordination and long-term planning between Apple and TSMC make a bottleneck of this magnitude unlikely. Apple plans its processor production at least three months in advance. This planning considers expected memory availability, meaning Apple would not order chips it could not package.