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Apple plans to replace Broadcom Wi-fi Bluetooth chip with in-house design in 2025

  • Apple is currently Broadcom’s largest customer and accounted for about 20 per cent of the chip maker’s revenue in the last financial year
  • The iPhone maker also aims to swap out electronics from Qualcomm with its first in-house cellular modem chip by early 2025

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Apple plans to use an in-house chip to replace a key Broadcom design. Photo: Dreamstime/TNS
Bloomberg
Apple’s push to replace the chips inside its devices with home-grown components will include dropping a key Broadcom part in 2025, according to people familiar with the situation, dealing a blow to one of its biggest suppliers.
As part of the shift, Apple also aims to ready its first cellular modem chip by the end of 2024 or early 2025, letting it swap out electronics from Qualcomm, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. Apple had been previously expected to replace the Qualcomm part as soon as this year, but development snags have pushed back the timeline.

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Apple is Broadcom’s largest customer and accounted for about 20 per cent of the chip maker’s revenue in the last financial year, amounting to almost US$7 billion. Qualcomm got 22 per cent of its annual sales from the iPhone maker, representing nearly US$10 billion, though that company has warned for years that its Apple reliance will wane.

Shares of Broadcom fell as much as 4.7 per cent on the news before paring their decline. The shares closed at US$576.89, down 2 per cent. Qualcomm slid as much as 1.6 per cent before closing at US$114.61, down 0.6 per cent. Apple rose 0.4 per cent to US$130.15.

The moves will further upend a chip industry that makes billions of dollars supplying Apple components. Already, the world’s most valuable tech company has removed most Intel processors from its Mac computers, opting instead to use in-house chips known as Apple Silicon. Now the changes are hitting the biggest makers of wireless electronics.

The iPhone is Apple’s top moneymaker, generating more than half of its US$394.3 billion in revenue last year. The phone also has helped fuel growth at Broadcom, which refers to Apple as its “large North American customer” during earnings calls. The chip maker makes a combined component that handles both Wi-fi and Bluetooth functions on Apple devices.

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