TSMC, tipped to be biting into Samsung's supply contract with Apple, has announced that it has begun volume production of 28nm chips and has products already shipping to customers, though the company did not confirm Apple was one of them. Instead, AMD, NVIDIA, Qualcomm and Altera all get name-checked, with AMD and NVIDIA saying they will be using the 28nm process silicon in their next-gen graphics products.
Despite the ongoing multinational legal feud and fierce competition in smartphones and tablets between Samsung and Apple, the two companies may extend their long-standing business relationship when it comes to the supply side. According to the Korean Herald, Samsung COO Lee Jae-yong revealed that Samsung could continue to supply Apple with crucial components beyond 2012.
The taping out of a new processor is one of the points on the map to full production of a new processor. This step has to be completed before the new processors can come to market. ARM and TSMC have announced that they have completed tape out the first 20nm ARM Cortex-A15 multicore processor. Going to a smaller build process is very important to allowing processors to have better performance while producing less heat and consuming less power.
Reports that Apple would ditch Samsung and look instead to TSMC for the Apple A6 processor expected to feature in the next-gen iPad 3 and iPhone 5 are premature, a Samsung exec has insisted, claiming that the two companies will continue to collaborate on chipset design and manufacture. While multiple sources had suggested TSMC had snatched the production contract out from under Samsung, as Apple supposedly distanced itself from over-reliance on its courtroom foe, issues around manufacturing have apparently left Apple still dependent on Samsung The Korea Times reports.
TSMC has reportedly dispatched a delegation of execs and engineers to Apple's Cupertino campus to discuss potential manufacturing deals for the upcoming Apple A6 processor and other chips, as Apple attempts to reduce its dependence on Samsung. The 60-strong team is expected to discuss patent issues and TSMC's 28nm production process, DigiTimes' sources tip them, following reports back in September that the manufacturer had already clinched a foundry partnership agreement with Apple.
Apple's A6 and A7 processor production will indeed shift to TSMC, sources claim, as the company continues to distance itself from Samsung Electronics. The two firms have recently signed a foundry partnership agreement, DigiTimes reports, which will see the next-gen Apple A6 chipset and its successor, unofficially dubbed the Apple A7, produced using TSMC's 28nm and 20nm processes. Apple has until now relied on Samsung to produce the chips found in the iPad 2 and iPhone 4, co-developing the original A4 with the Korean company. However, increasingly strained relations and a number of ongoing legal battles have supposedly prompted Apple to look elsewhere for some of its components.
Apple's A6 processor could beat Intel to the market for 3D IC chip construction, using the complex layering system so as to avoid overheating issues of the sort supposedly threatening to delay the next-gen iPhone and the current Apple A5 processor. According to EETimes, a Taiwanese report claims TSMC will be producing 3D 28nm chips by the end of the year which, SemiWiki says, can see performance boosted by around 30-percent while power consumption drops by around 50-percent. That will also add up to reduced heat output.
Apple has reportedly green-lighted a production trial of Apple A6 next-gen processors by TSMC, amid ongoing rumors that the Cupertino company intends to dump Samsung as a component supplier as son as it can. According to Reuters‘ source, whether TSMC scoops the valuable contract will be down to what chip yield it can manage: if the proportion of defect-free A6 processors produced meets with Apple’s liking, the company is expected to grant a formal contract.
Apple and Samsung's ongoing legal rumpus could see the Korean company lose the manufacturing contract for the next-gen Apple A6 processor, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) the likely benefactor of the supply chain shakeup. According to both a Taipei Merill Lynch analyst and an Ars Technica source, Apple and TSMC are currently in talks with the entire A6 production deal on the table.
Apple is reportedly planning to ditch Intel's processors for ARM-based chips, a potentially huge revolution that will supposedly kick off with the company's MacBook notebooks. According to SemiAccurate's sources, Apple is looking to a mid-2013 timescale for the transition, when 64-bit cores such as NVIDIA's Project Denver are common.
Apple has reportedly ditched Samsung for the Apple A5 dual-core processor at the heart of the iPad 2, taking up with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) for production of the current-gen 40nm chip and a future 28nm version. According to EETimes' source, Samsung's increasing role as an iPad and iPhone competitor led Apple to TSMC's door.
NVIDIA and TSMC have announced that the one-billionth NVIDIA GeForce GPU has been shipped. The GPUs are designed by NVIDIA and TSMC builds them inside its foundries. The announcement marks a milestone for NVIDIA whose line of GPUs are very popular in the desktop and mobile space.
