TSMC employees arrested for leaking 2nm chip tech linked to Apple A20
Three individuals, including TSMC employees, have been arrested for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to the company's 2-nanometer chip technology. This advanced chip process is expected to power Apple's upcoming A20 chip for the iPhone 18.
A former employee of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and two other people, one an existing engineer, have been arrested on suspicion of plotting to steal confidential technology. This case concerns confidential information of the advanced 2-nanometre chip process of TSMC that would be used to drive Apple's upcoming A20 chip in the iPhone 18 series reported by Financial Times.
TSMC disclosed that the hack was identified as a consequence of its security team detecting abnormal access patterns in its internal systems that were related to its next-generation chip development. The company responded quickly, reporting the incident to Taiwanese authorities. These arrests came after an internal investigation into alleged efforts to steal sensitive data.
Trade secrets targeted in internal breach
The 2-nanometre node that is the focus of the research can be regarded as a significant step in the development of the semiconductor industry. It has a nanosheet transistor architecture that substitutes the FinFET design deployed in the previous generations. According to TSMC, it could bring up to 15 per cent speed improvements, or 30 per cent less power consumption than its 3-nanometre process.
Apple expected to debut A20 chip with 2nm process
Apple, the largest client of TSMCs and the sole provider of chips, will probably launch the A20 chip made on this 2nm technology range in the 2026 lineup of the 18th iPhone. The shift to this node may result in significant efficiencies and speed improvements of Apple devices. The case of the breach is still under investigation, and not all the stolen data has been revealed.