TSMC began Apple A6 processor fabrication instead of Samsung

According to Reuters, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has started trial production of Apple A6 processors.

Information about Apple’s intentions to move fabrication of corresponding processors from Samsung to any other manufacturer has been flying around the web for quite a long time now. As the anonymous source with knowledge of the matter specifies, shifting to TSMC producing capacity is possible if the company can achieve enough yields of Apple A6 processors which is rumored to be a 28nm quad-core chip:

TSMC has got all the authorization and details ready. Whether Apple puts in a formal order will depend on the yield rate.

In case TSMC succeeds this will lead to considerable negative profit for Samsung. On the other hand, Samsung has been the main supplier of Apple A4 and A5 chips. Other than that, Samsung has also supplied Apple products with LCD displays, flash-memory and other components.

Moving to a different chip manufacturer can be explained by Apple’s willingness not to share technical details on its own ARM-processors with Samsung, the main competitor in mobile segment. Such accidents has already took place when Samsung Galaxy had almost entirely copied the overall look and user interface layout of Apple iPhone and iPad which has lead to judicial procedures between two companies and its relationships became worse ever since. Apparently, Apple does not want this to happen again.

Source: Reuters