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Samsung and TSMC Reportedly Still Competing for Rights to Produce Apple's A9 Chip

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Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) are still competing for the rights to produce Apple's next-generation A9 chip as a primary supplier is expected to be named by the end of this year, reports Digitimes.

A8.jpg
According to the report, Samsung has offered Apple lower pricing quotes in an attempt to secure the rights to produce the A9. The company is also willing to produce other chips like flash memory and perform optimization services in-house. Samsung was the longtime producer of Apple's A-series chips until Apple struck a deal with TSMC to produce its chips last year.

Last month, Samsung semiconductor head Kim Ki-nam announced that the company would begin work on 14-nanometer processors for Apple, indicating that the Korean company may have already won the bid to produce the next-generation A9 chip. However, it is also possible that both companies could share the production load as Apple looks to diversify its supply chain even further to better fit its production needs.

Last year, it was reported that Apple signed a contract with Samsung to handle 30% to 40% of total A9 chip production, as TSMC would be handling the rest of the production load. Apple's A9 chip would presumably be featured in next year's line of iPhones and iPads, as the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus currently use the 20-nanometer A8 processor. The iPad Air 2 uses a more powerful triple-core A8X chip which is up to 55% faster than the A8 chip found in the iPhone 6.

Article Link: Samsung and TSMC Reportedly Still Competing for Rights to Produce Apple's A9 Chip
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/11/04/samsung-tsmc-still-competing-a9-chip/
My favorite rumors are the ones about the A series chips. I can't wait to hear about the specs of this thing!
 
Jacquesvw said:
Doesn't Samsung gain a competitive advantage by producing chips for Apple since they are competing in the same marketplace?
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They been making chips for Apple for years , if they tried anything funny the lawsuit would be epic,
Would be funny seeing Apple owning Samsung
 
Don't care if its samsung or tsmc produce this chip.
A9 would undoubtely be quad core!!! :D
Exciting.
 
So they now have to compete with TSMC and beg Apple back by lowering their prices... further cutting into their profit margins. Looks like Apple is hitting Samsung in all areas now.
 
Sharing load of a chip design across processes that have different feature sizes, validation criteria, and vendors is unprecedented. Any claims of the two sharing load should be met with extreme skepticism. The design for the A9 should already be done at this moment, meaning they've designed two different versions already and are looking to possibly eliminate one version, or they've already chosen their vendor. Designing to two different processes would be resource intensive, and with Apple's aggressive timetables, it would be even more difficult to validate what is supposed to be the same design to two sets of rules.
 
Radio said:
More like Samsung and tsmc are the brains and apple provides the looks.
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No. Apple designs the brains and the looks. Samsung/TSMC fabricate those brains. Apple is the architect, Samsung/TSMC are the construction workers (or pick any related analogy).
 
The key takeaway here is that two vendors think they will have a 14 nm process ready for massive volume production next year. This will further allow Apple to catch up with Intel across some range of product if needed. Apple spends enough on R&D to have two complete backend teams (layout and validation) for two different sets of process rules.
 
farewelwilliams said:
it's like two chicks fighting over who gets to make a kid with a hot stud.
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Its not like that at all. The media portrayal is that there's a fight but in reality, each company submits a bid and Apple selects the one that works best for it. Normally bids are sealed and the other bidders do not know what other bidder proposals are. How all these details get leaked is a bit puzzling. :)
 
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chrmjenkins said:
Sharing load of a chip design across processes that have different feature sizes, validation criteria, and vendors is unprecedented. Any claims of the two sharing load should be met with extreme skepticism. The design for the A9 should already be done at this moment, meaning they've designed two different versions already and are looking to possibly eliminate one version, or they've already chosen their vendor. Designing to two different processes would be resource intensive, and with Apple's aggressive timetables, it would be even more difficult to validate what is supposed to be the same design to two sets of rules.
Click to expand...

Having been a Semi Test Engineer for over 20 years using chips processed under two different processes in the same application is a no go. Chips processed under the 20nm process will draw more power and be physically larger, thus relegating them to the larger iPads of 2015 while the 14nm chips being smaller and more power efficient will be used in the iPhone 6s and 6s+.
 
Stephroll said:
They been making chips for Apple for years , if they tried anything funny the lawsuit would be epic,
Would be funny seeing Apple owning Samsung
Click to expand...

The lawyers in that case from both sides after a few years would retire multi millionaires.
 
How can Samsung compete with Apple and trash their iphone against the Galaxy in ads, then try to get the contract to build their next chips?

And Apple would still use them as suppliers for displays and other components.

Can you imagine how the meetings look like between the two?
 
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