Apple is making a bold move, as reported today, by taking its A6 chip partnership with Samsung and moving it to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Some say this might be a move Apple has been planning since they filed a lawsuit against Samsung for patent infringement. Apple is claiming Samsung’s Galaxy smartphone and tablet are almost exact copies of the iPhone and iPad. Besides patent infringement, the suit says that Samsung also engaged in unfair competitive practices. Almost as soon as Apple filed, Samsung did the same thing claiming patent infringement on Apple. The lawsuit is a very high profile case and the outcome could spell doom for one or both of the companies. In the meantime, Apple has decided to go elsewhere.
Putting all of the lawsuits aside, Apple has decided to move its chip business to TSMC. The sources are saying the chips might be a variant of A5 and some are saying TSMC will be making the A6 version. Either way, all sources say they will be ARM chips for sure. The A6 chip should be ready for the products that Apple releases in 2012 and they will be manufactured on the 28nm process. Samsung manufactured chips based on the 45nm process. The business that Apple could provide to TSMC would really only account for 2 percent of their total business.
As devices get smaller and smaller all the components inside of them must as well. There is also another rumor floating around that Apple might take Intel on board with the A6 chips because they are running a 22nm, TriGate process technology. Samsung was also reportedly building facilities just to manufacture chips for Apple. If the deal with TSMC goes through, Samsung would be losing out on a lot of business and would have to figure out what to do with a brand new, empty building. Some sources already say that a large volume of chips have come off the TSMC floor, but Apple has not confirmed that as of yet.
It sounds like Apple is just looking to get chips made faster, or at least cheaper and the whole lawsuit thing is just getting in the way. In the end, Apple will likely cut Samsung out of the supply chain, but for now, Samsung will be filling an almost $8 billion order for LCDs, processors, and NAND flash memory.
