Apple

The Fab

Where Apple silicon is born

TSM — TSMC

Manufactures every A-series and M-series chip Apple designs, on its most advanced node first — Apple is TSMC’s largest customer and the launch customer for each new process, and its Arizona fab now turns out Apple silicon on US soil.

Why it matters: The single point of failure under the whole map: there is no second source for Apple silicon at the leading edge.

market cap $2.22T · revenue $140B (research snapshot; the live map shows current data)

ARM — Arm Holdings

The instruction set every Apple chip speaks. Apple co-founded Arm in 1990 and holds an architecture license running past 2040, so it designs its own cores rather than buying Arm’s — the royalty is small, the dependence is total.

market cap $269B · revenue $5B (research snapshot; the live map shows current data)

The Parts Bin

The chips and glass Apple can’t (yet) make itself

QCOM — Qualcomm

The modem supplier Apple is designing out: the in-house C1 modem debuted in the iPhone 16e (2025) and spread through the lineup, and Qualcomm has told investors to expect only a sliver of Apple’s modem volume by the 2026 models. Its patent license with Apple still runs to 2027 — and its replacement customer is the datacenter: a multi-generation custom AI inference chip and interconnect deal with AWS (Sept 2026) sent the stock up 10% in a day.

market cap $180B · revenue $44B (research snapshot; the live map shows current data)

AVGO — Broadcom

The RF front-end and wireless connectivity chips in every iPhone, under a multi-year, multibillion-dollar supply deal signed in 2023 — the part of Broadcom that predates the AI boom and still ties it to Apple’s unit volumes.

market cap $1.70T · revenue $89B (research snapshot; the live map shows current data)

GLW — Corning

Makes the cover glass on every iPhone and Apple Watch. Apple committed $2.5B in 2025 to Corning’s Harrodsburg, Kentucky plant so that all of it is made in America — the showcase of Apple’s $600B US-manufacturing pledge and its tariff shield.

market cap $133B · revenue $17B (research snapshot; the live map shows current data)

The Assembly Line

Where 200M+ iPhones a year get built — and the tariff front line

HNHPF — Hon Hai (Foxconn)

Assembles the majority of the world’s iPhones — Apple is roughly half of its revenue — while spreading the lines from China to India (now a meaningful share of US-bound iPhones) to sidestep tariffs, and building Nvidia AI servers on the side. Trades in Taipei; the US ticker is a thin OTC listing.

market cap $114B · revenue $290B (research snapshot; the live map shows current data)

The Core

The most valuable hardware franchise ever built

AAPL — Apple

The center of the map: the iPhone is the most profitable consumer product ever made, and the 2.4-billion-device installed base feeds a $100B+ Services business (App Store, iCloud, Music, TV+, AppleCare, and the ~$20B a year Google pays to be Safari’s default search) that carries software margins.

Why it matters: Everything else on this map is either inside the iPhone, competing with it, paying Apple for access to its users, or suing Apple over the toll it charges for that access.

Outlook: The iPhone 17 cycle re-accelerated hardware growth, Services keeps compounding at double digits, and the $600B US-investment pledge bought a tariff exemption. The open questions are AI — a rebuilt Siri now runs on Google’s Gemini — and whether the App Store commission survives the courts and the EU.

market cap $4.67T · revenue $467B (research snapshot; the live map shows current data)

The Rivals

Who’s fighting Apple for the pocket, the face, and China

SSNLF — Samsung Electronics

Apple’s biggest hardware rival and one of its biggest suppliers at the same time: Galaxy fights iPhone for global unit share while Samsung Display makes the majority of iPhone OLED panels and Samsung’s Texas fab produces chips for Apple. Trades in Korea; the US ticker is a thin OTC listing.

market cap $1.20T · revenue $220B (research snapshot; the live map shows current data)

META — Meta

The rival for the next platform: Ray-Ban Meta glasses became the first hit consumer AI wearable while Vision Pro stayed niche, Meta AI competes with Apple Intelligence, and the two have been at war since Apple’s App Tracking Transparency knocked ~$10B off Meta’s ad revenue.

market cap $1.57T · revenue $228B (research snapshot; the live map shows current data)

HUAWEI — Huawei (private)

The China front: sanctions-era Huawei came back with its own 7nm-class chips and HarmonyOS, retook the top of the Chinese smartphone market, and is the main reason Apple’s Greater China revenue has been the shakiest line in its results. Employee-owned; no public valuation.

revenue $120B (research snapshot; the live map shows current data)

The Frenemies

The AI partners Apple pays, sells to, and competes with — all at once

GOOGL — Alphabet (Google)

Pays Apple ~$20B a year to be Safari’s default search engine (the DOJ remedies ruling let the payments continue, minus exclusivity), supplies the Gemini models behind the rebuilt Siri, and competes with Android and Pixel — customer, supplier, and rival in one node.

market cap $4.14T · revenue $446B (research snapshot; the live map shows current data)

OPENAI — OpenAI (private)

ChatGPT is wired into Siri and Apple Intelligence — and OpenAI bought Jony Ive’s io for $6.5B to build the first post-iPhone AI device, hiring away Apple hardware engineers to do it. Partner inside the phone, rival to the phone.

valuation $852B · revenue $25B (research snapshot; the live map shows current data)

The Rebels

The developers fighting the 30% toll

SPOT — Spotify

Competes with Apple Music and led the fight against the App Store toll: its complaint produced the EU’s €1.8B anti-steering fine on Apple (2024), and after the Epic ruling it added external payment links in the US app. Reports in euros, so revenue here is static.

market cap $111B · revenue $21B (research snapshot; the live map shows current data)

EPIC — Epic Games (private)

The Fortnite maker that sued Apple in 2020 and finally won the part that mattered: the April 2025 contempt ruling barred Apple from taking a commission on purchases made through links out of apps, and Fortnite returned to the US App Store a month later.

valuation $23B (research snapshot; the live map shows current data)

The Checkout

Where the money ultimately comes from

The iPhone Owner

More than 2.4 billion active Apple devices, the most affluent installed base in tech, and an upgrade cycle that every carrier promotion, trade-in program, and foldable rumor exists to accelerate. They buy the hardware — and then keep paying for the services.

The Developers

The millions of apps that make the iPhone worth owning, and the 15–30% commission on the ~$1T+ of commerce flowing through them that makes the App Store Apple’s highest-margin business — the toll the Rebels column is fighting.

Relationships on the map

• TSMC supplies Apple — A- & M-series silicon (~$30B/yr)
  Research estimate: Apple is roughly a fifth of TSMC’s revenue and the launch customer for every leading node — the deepest supplier dependence on the map.
• Arm Holdings supplies Apple — ISA license to 2040+
  Apple designs its own cores on Arm’s instruction set under a long-term architecture license; the dollars are small, the lock-in is total.
• Qualcomm supplies Apple — Modems (fading) (~$4B/yr)
  Research estimate: still billions a year in modems and patent royalties, but the in-house C1 family is designed to take Qualcomm’s share to near zero.
• Broadcom supplies Apple — RF & wireless chips (~$10B/yr)
  Research estimate: the RF front-end and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth silicon under the 2023 multi-year deal; Apple remains one of Broadcom’s largest customers outside AI.
• Corning supplies Apple — Kentucky cover glass (~$2B/yr)
  Research estimate: every iPhone and Apple Watch cover glass, now produced entirely at the Harrodsburg plant Apple funded with $2.5B.
• Hon Hai (Foxconn) supplies Apple — iPhone assembly (~$120B/yr)
  Research estimate: Apple accounts for close to half of Hon Hai’s revenue, most of it pass-through component cost on assembled iPhones.
• Samsung Electronics supplies Apple — OLED panels (~$8B/yr)
  Research estimate: Samsung Display makes the majority of iPhone OLED screens, so every iPhone sold pays its biggest rival.
• Apple competes with Samsung Electronics — Galaxy vs iPhone
  The two-horse race for global smartphone profits: Samsung wins on units and foldables, Apple takes the overwhelming majority of industry profit.
• Apple competes with Meta — Glasses, AI & the privacy war
  Ray-Ban Meta glasses vs Vision Pro for the next platform, Meta AI vs Apple Intelligence, and the App Tracking Transparency feud over who owns the user.
• Apple competes with Huawei — The China front
  Huawei’s comeback with its own silicon and HarmonyOS is the biggest reason Apple’s Greater China revenue has wobbled.
• Apple supplies Alphabet (Google) — Safari default search (~$20B/yr)
  Research estimate: Google pays Apple about $20B a year for default placement — nearly pure profit and a meaningful slice of Services.
• Alphabet (Google) partners with Apple — Gemini inside Siri
  Apple picked Google’s Gemini models to power the rebuilt Siri, reportedly for around $1B a year, rather than catch up on frontier models itself.
• Alphabet (Google) competes with Apple — Android & Pixel
  Android runs on most of the world’s phones and Pixel is Google’s showcase for on-device AI — the other half of the mobile duopoly.
• OpenAI partners with Apple — ChatGPT in Siri
  ChatGPT has been wired into Siri and writing tools since late 2024 as the fallback for questions Apple’s own models can’t handle.
• OpenAI competes with Apple — The io device
  OpenAI’s $6.5B purchase of Jony Ive’s io is an explicit bet on a post-smartphone AI device — built by people who designed the iPhone.
• Spotify competes with Apple — Apple Music & the 30% toll
  A music rival that turned into the App Store’s most effective antitrust complainant, in Brussels and in Washington.
• Epic Games competes with Apple — The anti-steering ruling
  The 2025 contempt ruling stripped Apple’s commission on link-out purchases in the US — the first real crack in the App Store toll.
• Apple supplies The iPhone Owner — iPhone, Mac, iPad, Wearables (~$350B/yr)
  Research estimate: hardware is still roughly three-quarters of Apple’s revenue, with the iPhone alone well over half of the total.
• Apple supplies The Developers — App Store distribution (~$30B/yr)
  Research estimate: App Store commissions of roughly $30B a year, the most profitable slice of Services — and the one the courts and the EU are chipping at.