In the latest note, Ming-Chi Kuo reportedly says that Apple will introduce the first Mac with custom ARM-based chips in 2020 or 2021. He believes that the move could benefit Apple because then it will not have to depend on Intel’s processor release schedule, will get higher profit margins which may result in higher market share if Apple chooses to offer lower prices on future Macs. He says while the industry could see Macs with Apple chips by 2020, the autonomous Apple Car system may be run from custom silicon by 2023. Kuo predicts that TSMC will produce custom chips for “Apple Car’s Advanced Driver Assistance Systems.” and the company may bring Level 4 or Level 5 fully autonomous driving to consumers. He claims that that only TSMC’s 3nm or 5nm chip process will enable that level of autonomous driving.

While talking about TSMC’s role, the analyst also said that TSMC will be the sole supplier for Apple’s A-series chips in the next two years, that is, it will manufacture A13 chips for 2019 iPhones and A14 processors for iPhones in 2020. In the process, TSMC is also believed to reap benefits for being the only vendor to supply A-series chips. Apple is also predicted to become more dependent on TSMC “due to its high quality design and production compared to other manufacturers as well as absence of a conflict of interest between the two.” Kuo also claimed that the iPhone XR will sell better than expected and “TSMC will have a better Q1 in 2019 with the A12 than it did producing the A11.”