Nvidia Set to Overtake Apple as TSMC's Largest Customer Amid AI Boom [Report]

Nvidia is on track to pass Apple this year to become TSMC's largest customer, marking a significant shift in the semiconductor industry. Apple has long dominated the foundry's order book to secure capacity for the iPhone and Mac, but the surge in spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure is reshaping that balance.



New analyst data reported by CNBC indicates Nvidia is on course to generate roughly $33 billion in revenue for TSMC in 2026. That would put it well ahead of Apple, which is projected to contribute about $27 billion. The shift represents a changing of the guard that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has said he anticipated. He recently recalled telling TSMC founder Morris Chang decades ago that Nvidia would eventually take the top spot. "Morris will be happy to know Nvidia is TSMC's largest customer now," Huang said.


The gap is largely driven by the type of silicon being produced. Apple orders high volumes of smaller chips for consumer devices, such as the A19 Pro for iPhone and the M5 for Mac. Nvidia, by contrast, sells massive and highly complex AI accelerators that generate far more revenue per wafer. That difference is now clearly reflected in TSMC's financials. In the last quarter, high-performance computing, which includes AI chips, accounted for more than half of the foundry's net revenue.

To support that demand, TSMC plans to spend between $52 billion and $56 billion on capital expenditures this year. That level of investment typically pressures pricing across the customer base, aligning with reports from late last year that the foundry warned Apple to expect price hikes for its 3nm and future 2nm production lines as it works to protect margins.

Despite falling to second place, Apple remains a critical customer for TSMC. The sheer scale of iPhone production allows the foundry to refine yields on new process nodes. Apple is also strengthening the relationship closer to home, with its suppliers expanding in Arizona to support domestic chip manufacturing. At the same time, Apple is exploring additional diversification, including efforts to assemble chips in India.

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