What happened
Shares of Apple (AAPL +1.07%) were up a strong 4.6% as of 12:20 p.m. EDT on Wednesday. Presumably, this is partly a reaction to and a recovery from the tech sell-off that began late last week and stretched into Tuesday. As of 12:20 p.m. EDT, the Nasdaq was up 2.9%, a rebound helped by Apple's own stock surge.
The iPhone maker's shares had fallen 16% through Tuesday's close, and were probably due to get a little of that back if from nothing else, then from short-sellers closing their positions and collecting their winnings.
Investors were starving for another bite of Apple today. Image source: Getty Images.
So what
That's one likely reason Apple is up today. Another is an article in Taiwan's DigiTimes today reporting that Apple contract producer Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM +6.28%) is ready to begin producing 5nm wafers for the new line of Apple Silicon computer processors. Production is expected to begin in Q4 2020, with an initial output of 5,000 to 6,000 wafers per month, and growing.
Now what
This isn't exactly new news. We've known that Apple was switching from Intel processors to internally developed chips for at least three months now. But confirmation that plans are moving ahead on schedule, and apparently hitting none of the speed bumps that upset Intel in July, give new reasons for investors to be optimistic.
Combined with the cheaper-than-last-week stock price, this is helping to push Apple stock up today.
