Mac Sales Drop Due To Recession, Apple Stops Production Of M2 Series Chips

Production of the M2 chip was stopped by Apple as a whole. (photo; dock. apple)

JAKARTA - Apple experienced a bitter start to the year, where Mac sales experienced a drastic decline. Therefore, the company immediately stopped producing M2 series chips.

Production of the M2 chip was stopped by Apple as a whole in January and February for the first time since the company's silicon started, to fit to lower demand.

The production shutdown will take a long time before sales return to normal. According to a report by The Elec that received information from one of the sources, citing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) as Apple's chipmaker, not sending any M2 wafers to the packaging and testing company to be cut and assembled as finished chips.

One of the suppliers, Amcona, appears to have been devastated by the pause, having a fully dedicated path to idle Apple's two-month chip packaging.

The Elec later concluded that this was due to the low demand for the Mac during the first months of 2023. It is claimed, production will resume in March but the amount is only half from the previous year.

However, supply chain reports show Apple's third-party suppliers and vendors are experiencing difficulties as a result.

The company made its M2 chip debut last year at a WWDC with a redesigned MacBook Air event. This chip is made on TSMC's 5nm architecture that features improved computing and graphics performance coupled with a better battery life.

The affected devices, namely MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and other models, experienced a decline in demand which resulted in Apple stopping its custom chip production.

"TSMC did not send 5 M2 chip wafer work objects to outsourced (OSAT) semiconductor package tests in January and February, according to the OSAT industry on the 3rd. This is believed to be because Apple asked for a production cessation because the demand for MacBook is shrinking," said The Elec.

Apple itself has confirmed that in the first quarter (Q1) 2023 revenue report MacBook's revenue decreased quite drastically at the end of last year (Q1 2023 took place from early October to late December 2022).

In Q1 2023, revenue from Mac sales reached 7.7 billion US dollars (Rp114 trillion), which fell from 10.9 billion US dollars (Rp162 trillion) from Q1 2022, which is the company's all-time high.

However, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the revenue figure was in line with his expectations amid an unstable economy.

"We are also facing a challenging macroeconomic environment and foreign exchange barriers. We remain confident and focused on long-term opportunities for Macs," Cook said, quoted by TechRadar.

While Apple is tackling M2 chip production, another report says the company will disclose the M3 chip based on the 3nm process later this year.