Apple may replace Broadcom chip with an in-house design

Apple is planning to replace a Broadcom chip from its devices with an in-house design in 2025, Bloomberg News report  said.
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The US-based iPhone maker has been working to limit its reliance on other chipmakers. Apple has already moved to its own line of chips for recent models of its Mac computers, replacing those from Intel.

Apple plans to replace Broadcom’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip. Apple is the U.S. chipmaker’s largest customer. The Cupertino, California-based company accounts for about 20 percent of Broadcom’s revenue.

Apple’s decision is likely to hit Broadcom revenue by about $1 billion to $1.5 billion, said Stacy Rasgon, an analyst with financial services firm AB Bernstein.

Broadcom’s radio frequency, or RF, chips were complex to design and manufacture and were unlikely to be replaced in the short term.

Apple is also looking to swap out Qualcomm’s cellular modem chips with its own by the end of 2024 or early 2025.

Qualcomm has said it believes Apple will phase out its chips. Apple uses Qualcomm’s X65 for 5G modem in its iPhone 14 line and is expected to deploy a newer version of the same chip in the iPhone 15 models likely to be released later this year, according to Jefferies’ analyst William Yang.

Qualcomm in November said it expects minimal contribution from Apple product revenue in fiscal 2025.