“IC Insights gave the public a peek at their theory that Apple and Intel could possibly work together on a future 10 nm iDevice processor,” Jack Purcher reports for Patently Apple. “One that they claim would give Apple a chance to leap well ahead of Samsung and TSMC capabilities and deliver powerful products.”
IC Insight’s latest Bulletin reads as follows:
Consider Intel’s plentiful wafer fab capacity and industry-leading process technology. Last month, Intel announced it would indefinitely postpone equipping its Fab 42 in Chandler, Arizona. This facility is currently a shell and was intended to have a built-out capacity of 40,000 300mm wafers per month. The company has stated that it expects the facility to be used for manufacturing at the 10nm process node after first ramping and running 14nm production…
Does it make sense for Intel to let Fab 42 sit idle as an empty shell or will Intel consider another radical move and put the fab to use manufacturing ICs for another, possibly competing, company?
It is no secret that Apple is looking to move some, if not eventually all, of its application processor production out of Samsung, its primary competitor in the smartphone and tablet PC markets… IC Insights estimates that Samsung produced about $3.4 billion worth of processors for Apple on a foundry basis in 2013.
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: With Apple already a major customer of Intel’s, seemingly interested in “Made in the U.S.A.” production, and embroiled in patent litigation against Samsung around the world, the stars may be aligned for Intel to fabricate Apple A-series SoCs.
Anything that finally permits Apple to stop incongruously doing business with Samsung sounds good to us!
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
Trouble is this has been prophesied for the last 2 years.
Besides, Samsung’s microelectronics fabric is situated in Texas, so it is already “Made in USA” anyway.
Intel is not stuck in the past at all. Intel is a strong and innovative company. Their only real competitor is AMD and they are hardly a competitor.
I believe the deciding factor for Intel will be whether they can accept anything less than pure greed profits for the chip manufacturing business. We have become such a nation of profit whores that it is hurting our nation’s companies in ways we may not see for another generation.
If Intel can accept tiny profits for the high volume business apple could send their way it could be a win-win.
I for one would love to be able to say that my iPhone is even more American made than it is now (which is not at all)
Is Intel not stuck in the past? Their core business is desktop and laptop processors. Steve Jobs has defined that as the past. Was he wrong?
Yes. Lots of people and business will always need heavy lifting desktops and laptops. An a7 is nearly 10 years behind Intel CPUs in performance
And lots of people have horses even though we have cars.
Just for the record, Samsung is using its fab facilities in Austin, Texas, to manufacture Apple’s A-series chips. That is in America, I believe. The plant pays US taxes, which can’t be said of Foxconn and the other assemblers in Asia.
“That is in America, I believe”
🙂 🙂 🙂
Intel is stuck in the past…they make the best cpus in the world…
Bye Bye Intel on the desktop, signed Apple.
Breaking: Apple dumps Samsung, new smart diaper alerts customers.
somebody ELSE is changing that sooper stinky diaper !-)
Wait, make gaggle do it !-)
Intel and Apple joining to make Apple chips in the US. This is the definition of a “no brainer.”
Something is wrong with this site. More often than not the page freezes and rebooting is necessary. Please fix your servers or get the malware off of them.
Please just do it. All we hear about is Apple doing away with Samsung and it is getting old.
Seems very familiar. Apple gets rid of Samsung as a display company, goes to LG and others… has supply issues and goes back to SAMSUNG! LOL
Will this also happen with the chip division too?
If so, AWESOME news for Samsung.
I’ve been considering a new TV for a couple of years now. No rush, current one is fine, but would like a new one. Every time I see one that I like, it is a Samsung and therefore, I won’t buy it. But why should I care about doing business with Apple’s Thief in Chief, if Apple doesn’t?
Isn’t Intel already postponing 14nm to 2015? oh! the Apple A8 is already in the can ready to go.