“Despite all that talk that Apple is striking a deal with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) to produce the A8 chips and later, there’s now a rumor that the fruity iPhone maker will make its own chips, thus entering the fab industry thanks to a purchase of an unnamed chip fabricator,” Kevin Parrish reports for Tom’s Hardware.
“Hints of TSMC’s involvement with A-Series manufacturing surfaced back in January, indicating that Apple was sampling TSMC as a foundry with a trial production of its A6X SoC,” Parrish reports. “Then in April, The Korea Times said that Samsung will not be a part of the A7 chip either. One of Samsung’s local partners in Korea told the paper that Apple was sharing confidential A7 info with TSMC.”
Parrish reports, “TSMC is expected to produce Apple’s A9 and A9X starting around the end of 3Q14. These will be used in next-gen iPhone and iPad products for 2015 whereas the A8 will be used for an iPhone slated to launch in early 2014. That said, Apple’s foundry purchase makes sense. Not only will the fruity company not need to solely rely on other sources to produce its chips, but offer foundry services to other companies, making a little extra cash on the side.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related article:
Apple exploring U.S.-based chipmaking deal with Globalfoundries – July 13, 2013
