TSMC to Begin Trial Production of Apple's A6X Chip This Quarter

[MacRumors]

AFP reports on claims from Taiwanese newspaper Commercial Times indicating that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is set to begin trial production of Apple's A6X chip sometime this quarter. The chip is currently used in the fourth-generation iPad introduced in October.

The Taiwanese company has been contracted to manufacture the A6X chip, which drives Apple's iPad4 tablet, with trial production set for the first quarter of this year, Taiwan's Commercial Times reported.

The move is the latest in a strings of efforts by Apple to switch mass manufacturing contracts away from Samsung, it said.

Apple has been rumored for some time to be trying to switch to TSMC for production of its A-series chips, with some reports claiming that TSMC would be coming on board late this year for next-generation chips. More recent reports have claimed that TSMC could start production for Apple as soon as the second quarter, perhaps in line with today's rumor of trial production in the first quarter of the year.

Article Link: TSMC to Begin Trial Production of Apple's A6X Chip This Quarter

[hleewell]

Here we go...

[Ingot]

Well this is good news indeed.

[JayJayAbels]

Thatta boy Cook!

[Compile 'em all]

Bye bye, Samsung!

[chrmjenkins]

Should be better on power consumption since TSMC will be using their 28nm process. Would be interesting if new iPads had better battery life all of the sudden.

[Radio]

Try this on for size

Apple still needs Samsung.

At this point tsmc cannot produce enough chips.

[ChristianJapan]

Let see what the yield and quality will be ...but good to get more then one supplier

[chrmjenkins]

Originally Posted by Radio

Try this on for size

Apple still needs Samsung.

At this point tsmc cannot produce enough chips.

TSMC is higher volume than Samsung. It would take time to ramp but they could do it without question. My guess is that once they switch, all new processors will be TSMC. Legacy processors like A5r2 will be converted or phased out.

Originally Posted by ChristianJapan

Let see what the yield and quality will be ...but good to get more then one supplier

It's a one or the other thing. Their process libraries are different and require different designs. It's not a copy and paste job.

[hayesk]

Originally Posted by Radio

Try this on for size

Apple still needs Samsung.

At this point tsmc cannot produce enough chips.

The key words here being "at this point". Apple can throw a billion dollars at TSMC and say "go build us a factory." In a year or two, will Apple need Samsung?

[Newton70]

Excellent news, Samsung can now better concentrate on making cheap, plastic phones.

[ItsWelshy]

Yay!

TSMC for Chips
Sharp for Screen

Bye Bye Samsdung....

Waiting for the headline "Samsung follow Apple into TSMC chip trial"

[Explicitic]

Originally Posted by Newton70

Excellent news, Samsung can now better concentrate on making cheap, plastic phones.

I've really never understood why people continue to call Samsung's phones "cheap," as if the plastic used is terrible quality.

[chrmjenkins]

Originally Posted by Explicitic

I've really never understood why people continue to call Samsung's phones "cheap," as if the plastic used is terrible quality.

Or as if plastic means cheap. It's like people completely forgot the 3G and 3GS.

[KdParker]

Makes since to diversify parts suppliers as long as the quality is there.

[ItsWelshy]

Originally Posted by Explicitic

I've really never understood why people continue to call Samsung's phones "cheap," as if the plastic used is terrible quality.

Beacuse they are?

Step 1: Hold Galaxy phone in hand
Step 2: Give gentle squeeze
Step 3: listen to the creaking and feel the rubbish build quality
Step 4: Put rubbish phone down, pick iPhone up
Step 5: Squeeze iPhone and observe the wonderful build quality
Step 6: Buy iPhone.
Step 7: Repeat steps 1-7 yearly

[harveyhanson]

Originally Posted by Explicitic

I've really never understood why people continue to call Samsung's phones "cheap," as if the plastic used is terrible quality.

I have a galaxy note 2, 1 drop on the floor and I can now see a lot of the white bezel underneath the very thin paint coating on plastic! So yeah, I would say Samsung phones are built on the cheap, you get what you pay for, that's where the price difference of £50 came between iPhone and Galaxy Note 2 in my case, better materials...

[Resseh]

Originally Posted by ItsWelshy

Yay!

TSMC for Chips
Sharp for Screen

Bye Bye Samsdung....

Waiting for the headline "Samsung follow Apple into TSMC chip trial"

on the macbooks, samsung's screens are better quality than the LG ones. with people swapping them until they get a samsung screen. cant believe this makes you happy. quite sad really

[Tankmaze]

hopefully will be ready when its mass produce for the 5S

[Rogifan]

Originally Posted by Explicitic

I've really never understood why people continue to call Samsung's phones "cheap," as if the plastic used is terrible quality.

Maybe not the phones, but check out The Verge review of the 10" Galaxy Note. Build quality looked (and sounded) horrible.

----------

Originally Posted by Resseh

on the macbooks, samsung's screens are better quality than the LG ones. with people swapping them until they get a samsung screen. cant believe this makes you happy. quite sad really

Can't Apple work with LG to improve their display quality?

[mw360]

Originally Posted by Rogifan

Maybe not the phones, but check out The Verge review of the 10" Galaxy Note. Build quality looked (and sounded) horrible.

Android Police Galaxy Note 10.1 Review

The build quality is so bad, I think it gave me cancer.

[Celf]

Originally Posted by Rogifan

Maybe not the phones, but check out The Verge review of the 10" Galaxy Note. Build quality looked (and sounded) horrible.

----------



Can't Apple work with LG to improve their display quality?

I won't deny my iPad has a better build quality than my Note but to call the build quality of the last one "horrible" is pure nonsense. The Androidpolice "review" was one big rant and made a lot of readers very angry because a lot of stuff this guy wrote was just not true.

[AppleScruff1]

Originally Posted by harveyhanson

I have a galaxy note 2, 1 drop on the floor and I can now see a lot of the white bezel underneath the very thin paint coating on plastic! So yeah, I would say Samsung phones are built on the cheap, you get what you pay for, that's where the price difference of £50 came between iPhone and Galaxy Note 2 in my case, better materials...

Drop your iPhone 4 and the glass breaks.

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Once again all the celebrations about how Apple is sticking it to Samsung ignoring the fact that Apple is probably setting up the next Samsung-like sequence of events with TSMC. Sure, TSMC is not in the consumer products business right now but after Apple shows them the way and they watch Apple rake it in, it's only a matter of time before someone there sees the same light that Samsung saw.

THE answer is not to move from one Asian manufacturer to others and trust that the latter won't follow the very profitable lead set by Samsung. Believing that TSMC and LG and Sharp and others will behave and leave all that profit to Apple is the same as believing that Samsung would behave right up until Samsung decided to more and more directly compete against Apple.

Enjoy the illusion but see it as such. It's only a matter of time before new parters learn from the association and then start applying what they learn to their own offerings. One Samsung "ripping off Apple" becomes 5 or 10 just a little ways down this road.

[hleewell]

Originally Posted by Compile 'em all

Bye bye, Samsung!

Not quite, hehe

----------

Originally Posted by HobeSoundDarryl

Once again all the celebrations about how Apple is sticking it to Samsung ignoring the fact that Apple is probably setting up the next Samsung-like sequence of events with TSMC. Sure, TSMC is not in the consumer products business right now but after Apple shows them the way and they watch Apple rake it in, it's only a matter of time before someone there sees the same light that Samsung saw.

Samsung regards Apple as just another customer, albeit a very big one.
Terry Gou regards Steve Jobs as "a God".



Then again...who knows.