The PC industry is in a sales downturn, and the latest report shows that Macs can’t be immune. While Apple seems to be doing better than its PC counterparts, it’s not immune to market demands. One of the things Apple did to alleviate the situation was to cut production of its M2 chip, according to Korean The Elec (translated). .

TSMC, Apple’s chipmaker, did not ship M2 wafers to “packaging and testing companies for cutting and assembly as finished chips,” and The Elec concludes this is due to low demand for MacBooks in the early months of 2023. The publication claims that production resumed in March, but for “half of last year.”

Apple’s decision had a knock-on effect on the industry. South Korean packaging companies with dedicated production lines for Apple had little to no work for their employees. Companies in Taiwan, Germany, Japan and South Korea that supply materials for production have also been affected. Apple increased production of the M2 in March but cut it in half.

The MacBook Air M2 and 13-inch MacBook Pro arrived last July, and Apple released the new MacBook Pro and Mac mini with M2 Pro and M2 Max processors in late January, and there doesn’t seem to be a shortage. Apple has several new Macs, including the 15-inch MacBook Air and the first Apple Silicon Mac Pro, which will supposedly use the M2 chip. The M3 chip is rumored to arrive in late 2023 or 2024.

While Apple was the only PC company to post sales growth in 2022, Apple experienced a quarterly decline in revenue in the first quarter of 2023. Apple CEO Tim Cook cited “currency headwinds,” pandemic-related factors, and “a challenging macro environment.” as a reason for the decline in sales. Apple CFO Luca Maestri did not give a forecast of expected revenue for the second quarter of 2023, but said the company expects results similar to the first quarter, when the company reported $117.2 billion in revenue. However, based on a report from The Elec, it appears that part of the Mac quarter may be facing a downturn.