Apple let reporters film inside its secretive chip-testing lab for the first time — take a look
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- Apple recently let CNBC into one of its chip-testing labs.
- It's apparently the first time reporters have been invited to film video inside the space.
- Apple has increasingly been making its own computer chips.
Apple is famously secretive about the rooms where employees work on upcoming products. Apple has a history of being so cloak-and-dagger about some of its projects, there have been times when some employees didn't even know about them.
So it's a big deal when the iPhone company allows outside eyes into its workspaces — which was the case in a recent CNBC special that the publication says is the first time reporters were able to film video inside this particular chip-testing lab.
The interview reveals a room with stacks of chip-testing rigs. It has a utilitarian look to it — a far less glamorous vibe compared to other labs in Apple's sleek headquarters hardware that it's shown off in previous keynotes.
The room is filled with shelves of 70 machines tasked with testing chips for new Apple products, according to CNBC. Apple uses a color-coded system to sort which machine is testing what type of chip.
While this marks the first time a news outlet's film crew was allowed to film video inside the room, it's not be the first time the public has gotten a peek at Apple's chip-testing process. Photos published by Bloomberg back in 2016 show a room with a similar layout.
Apple has increasingly been making its own chips as it looks to further control some of the core elements that make up its products.
In 2020, Apple announced that it would begin making its own computer chips for Macs. In previous years, the company had relied on Intel for computer chips.
Apple has various lines of SoC — systems on a chip — for its different products. There'e the A series that make up the the processor for iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, and HomePods. Then there's the M series of chips that power Macbooks and some iPads.
Apple also makes smaller chips for its accessory devices. The S series powers Apple Watches, and H and W chips were made for AirPods, and U chips, which are used in AirTags, allow for communication between Apple products. Apple has also developed the R1 chip, which will go into its Apple Vision Pro, a virtual reality headset expected to come out next year.