Samsung Chosen to Supply 80 Percent of Apple's Future A-Series Chips for iOS Devices

[Noble Actual]

Great news.

Samsung has been able to deliver the chips on time, in good quality, and a lot of them too.

TSMC needs to step up its game.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

People are still clueless. The key to the article was the inclusion of Global Foundries Malta NY Plant.

 

[KPOM]

Samsung must just love the fact they can slam Apple all they want and Apple keeps crawling back because they need the chips that they can't produce themselves. Make billions of dollars off of Apple and use that money against them in the mobile market.

Not really. I'm sure Apple has a lot of leverage. The fact that TSMC is producing the A8 shows that Apple has options. And since Samsung's handset profits are way down they need Apple more than ever. Actually, one way of looking at it is that Samsung is forced to help its biggest competitor.

 

[Poisonivy326]

People who really believe this "thermonuclear war" stuff between companies like Apple, Google, and Samsung are just naive. They might be rivals but at the end of the day they're all smart businesses who recognize that for certain things, they need each other. Tim Cook knows the supply chain like no other and if he decides Samsung will help him manufacture hardware at a good cost and reliability, he'll take it.

As another example, Google gives each of its employees a Mac. Does anyone really believe Google buys those Macs at marketshare price? Of course not. They have a deal with Apple that gives them those Macs at a cheaper price. Shocker! Tim Cook and Larry Page probably talk all the time.

 

[seecoolguy]

Well he's right, Apple doesn't make anything really, they contract out all the manufacturing for all their gadgets, even the Assembled in the USA Mac Pro is made in a facility not owned or operated by Apple.

correct Timmy and Jony don't bolt the screws to *any* iPhones, but that's just semantics. without Apple the iPhone, iPads and Macs would not be manufactured anywhere, regardless of the manufacturer that puts the physical device together.

 

[chrmjenkins]

People are still clueless. The key to the article was the inclusion of Global Foundries Malta NY Plant.

Yup. Apple loves their domestic check box.

 

[fugly1000]

Samsung must just love the fact they can slam Apple all they want and Apple keeps crawling back because they need the chips that they can't produce themselves. Make billions of dollars off of Apple and use that money against them in the mobile market.

Lol. you ain't lying

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People who really believe this "thermonuclear war" stuff between companies like Apple, Google, and Samsung are just naive. They might be rivals but at the end of the day they're all smart businesses who recognize that for certain things, they need each other. Tim Cook knows the supply chain like no other and if he decides Samsung will help him manufacture hardware at a good cost and reliability, he'll take it.

As another example, Google gives each of its employees a Mac. Does anyone really believe Google buys those Macs at marketshare price? Of course not. They have a deal with Apple that gives them those Macs at a cheaper price. Shocker! Tim Cook and Larry Page probably talk all the time.

100 percent true.

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Great news.

Samsung has been able to deliver the chips on time, in good quality, and a lot of them too.

TSMC needs to step up its game.

excatly.

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How do we know this isn't just a rumor to pump up Samsung stock?

http://www.patentlyapple.com/patent...of-their-future-14nm-processors-for-2016.html

Samsung supplies many things to different companies.

 

[Glideslope]

Sucks for people that swore to never buy a Samsung product again.

The A9 is designed by Apple at their Design Facility in FL. The VAST majority of these A9 and up chips will be fabbed in Austin TX, and Global Foundries Malta, NY plant. American jobs fabbing U.S. based architecture design on a Samsung 14nm process.

This has been a closely guarded decision over the past year. Nice to see Apple go public.

Look for ARM based chips in MBA's in late 2016.

 

[SixtyK]

I'm starting to think companies are no longer really "enemies" anymore.

I'm not sure they were ever really "enemies" as much as quietly agreeing that if people keep talking about Apple vs Samsung then they're probably not talking about Windows Phone...

 

[name99]

Although not a shocker, I continue to be amazed that no one seems to be able to scale the way Samsung does. Therefore Apple continues to "sleep with the enemy."

I don't think we need to worry about Samsung stealing the chip design since that has not been a problem yet. However, it does provide significant income to Samsung that they will use to continue to copy Apples iPhone. Therefore, I wish there were legitimate alternatives in the SoC space.

I wouldn't be too worried about Samsung doing well out of this deal.
My guess is that Samsung may have done a GTA here. Not that it will end in bankruptcy, but that they were so desperate to get their name on the contract that they promised more than makes economic sense --- either more fab capacity or faster improvements. Either way Apple comes out pretty.

I say this because the dynamics of Samsung strike me as such that they are right now scared and desperate. They've lost their edge in consumer electronics without anything obvious to replace that, and being passed over for the A8 may have made their other semi customers start to ask "Well, guys, explain to us EXACTLY why we should use TSMC rather than you". Companies that are scared and desperate tend to do silly shortsighted things...

 

[AppleScruff1]

And a month from now we'll get a rumor that says just the opposite.

I'll bet that's what some here are hoping.

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How do we know this isn't just a rumor to pump up Samsung stock?

http://www.patentlyapple.com/patent...of-their-future-14nm-processors-for-2016.html

Another conspiracy?

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Irony? What irony? Apple choosing Samsung is basically saying "WE ARE TAKING THE HIGH ROAD AND GIVING YOU BUSINESS REGARDLESS OF YOUR LOW LEVEL SALES SHENANIGANS AGAINST US".

That's probably it.

 

[Doomtomb]

I guess TSMC didn't want to put their big boy pants on.

This never gets old

 

[Antares]

Sucks for people that swore to never buy a Samsung product again.

Technically, as long as Samsung doesn't manufacture and sell the iPhone or iPad, you're not buying a Samsung product. It's an Apple product regardless of what manufacturer supplies any one of the components.

So, you can freely buy an iPhone, with Samsung component(s) inside, and still be able to say that you "don't buy Samsung products."

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

Wise words from someone who can't spell logically.

or Fanboi...

 

[RockSpider]

Technically, as long as Samsung doesn't manufacture and sell the iPhone or iPad, you're not buying a Samsung product. It's an Apple product regardless of what manufacturer supplies any one of the components.

So, you can freely buy an iPhone, with Samsung component(s) inside, and still be able to say that you "don't buy Samsung products."

You should get a job in the Apple marketing department.

 

[FX120]

http://www.cnet.com/news/samsung-to-spend-nearly-15-billion-on-chip-plant/

Duh?

 

[mi7chy]

Not surprised Apple is crawling back to Samsung. Performance and battery life is dictated by fab process and Apple will be at a disadvantage without Samsung. Just look what happened with the TLC NAND disaster when Apple switched away from Samsung which is considered the best in the industry for performance, reliability and endurance.

 

[s2kip]

Darth Vader: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooo!!!!"


But out of all seriousness and fanboyism aside, if it means decent Apple products I'm all for it. Better to have deals like this than inferior quality products in our pockets and on our desks.

I think you are not in this industry. TSMC is the leader in this area.

Companies like Quacomm, Nvidia all want to get capacity from TSMC.

However, they all have to line up with others, and even pay more to just get a piece of capacity TSMC has.

Also, Samsung's current yield rate of 20 nm process is only about 30%.....

I think which one is inferior is obvious.

Why Samsung can get orders from Apple is because price and capacity, not quality.

 

[bobenhaus]

Wise words from someone who can't spell logically.

There: logically

 

[procol]

I think you are not in this industry. TSMC is the leader in this area.

Companies like Quacomm, Nvidia all want to get capacity from TSMC.

However, they all have to line up with others, and even pay more to just get a piece of capacity TSMC has.

I think it's you that are not in this industry. TSMC is lagging behind with more advanced chip technology. Read this: TSMC to Fall Behind Rivals in FinFET Market Share

The reason iPhone 6s and 6+ adopted SoC from TSMC is that Samsung had determined to skip 20nm process which Apple wanted for iPhone models of this generation to move on to 14nm FinFET process earlier.

TSMC might be market leader in fab business still, especially in volume but it's not because they have the most advanced technology. Their glorious days were with bigger-than-30/40nm market because they had big manufacturing capacity. Samsung was not much interested in fab business at the time and they didn't want to make big fab plants to produce big volume because fab business is not that profitable unless the sufficient orders are secured. Then, iPhone era came and the situation got changed.

Also, Samsung's current yield rate of 20 nm process is only about 30%.....

I think which one is inferior is obvious.

Why Samsung can get orders from Apple is because price and capacity, not quality.

What's your source with the statement above?

You probably didn't heard about TSMC's notorious failure cases to deliver on time (not sample products). There were lots of fuss regarding nVidia GPUs, etc. due to the TSMC's failure to deliver as expected. They had more plants enabling them to keep up with the orders, that's why they have dominated the fab market share so far. That's just that.

 

[lazard]

news flash Samsung handset division has not made a profit in 3 quarters.

Mobile Division
Q1 $6.28B
Q2 $4.28B
Q3 $1.66B

while a bleak trend, $12B in profit for the last 3 quarters.

 

[tgxcyan]

Blames Samsung for being sucky and a copy cat.... 80% of Apple product is Samsungs....

[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


Apple has reportedly chosen Samsung over Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) as the primary supplier for its future application processors in a deal worth billions, claims The Korea Times (Via G for Games) citing sources familiar with the deal.

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Starting in 2016, Samsung reportedly will supply 80 percent of Apple's supply of 14 nm application processors with TSMC supplying the remaining 20 percent. The key factor that boosted Samsung was its recent partnership with GlobalFoundries, a relationship which will enable Samsung to produce sufficient supply of processors to meet Apple's demand. During its recent conference call, Samsung confirmed that it is producing sample 14 nm chips for an unidentified customer with plans to mass produce the chips in 2015 and 2016. This latest Korean Times report claims Samsung will begin building the processors early next year in its South Korean plant with plans to expand production to the company's Austin, Texas facility and GlobalFoundries' New York factory in the coming year.

Article Link: Samsung Chosen to Supply 80 Percent of Apple's Future A-Series Chips for iOS Devices

 

[skratch77]

news flash Samsung handset division has not made a profit in 3 quarters.

Lol they have made over 4 billion profit for the last 5 quarters each.

Try comprehending samsungs earnings reports a little better.yeah this 1/4 was down 60% but that's from 9-11 billion in profits to almost 5 billion in profits.

They are still making billions in profits each quarter just not as much as they were

 

[s2kip]

I think it's you that are not in this industry. TSMC is lagging behind with more advanced chip technology. Read this: TSMC to Fall Behind Rivals in FinFET Market Share

The reason iPhone 6s and 6+ adopted SoC from TSMC is that Samsung had determined to skip 20nm process which Apple wanted for iPhone models of this generation to move on to 14nm FinFET process earlier.

What's your source with the statement above?

I have friends inside those fabs.

It's not the first time Samsung leaked fake messages to the press.

Also, Samsung doesn't actually skip 20 nm process.

Their many current chips are manufactured by their own 20 nm.

They have already cut lots of chip orders from other company and choose their own designed chips to fill the capacity of 20 nm process.

Also, TSMC currently invests most on 10 nm process. 20, 16nm are just transitions.

And about credibility issue, I think why Quacomm still comes back to TSMC explains a lot.

 

[Dekema2]

I have a question, are there any chip plants in the US operating or under construction?

People are still clueless. The key to the article was the inclusion of Global Foundries Malta NY Plant.

Don't forget about the $45B chip plant in the works in Marcy, NY.