Apple Continuing Work on M2 Chip With Help From Samsung

[MacRumors]

Apple is continuing its work on the upcoming "M2" chip with help from Samsung Electro-Mechanics, ET News reports.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics supplies the flip chip ball grid array (FC-BGA), a printed circuit board used to connect the semiconductor chip to the main substrate, for the M1 chip. This detail did not emerge until almost a year after the M1 chip was introduced, when it was uncovered by The Elec.

While the M1, like all of Apple's custom silicon SoCs, is fabricated exclusively by Taiwan's TSMC, the chip includes components from several suppliers. For example, the chip's board is supplied by Ibiden and Unimicron, so it is necessary for Apple to coordinate multiple suppliers for its next-generation SoC for the Mac.

According to today's report from ET News, Samsung is expected to continue to provide the FC-BGA for the M2. The company is said to be collaborating with Apple in a project to develop the M2 chip and will complete work on the FC-BGA for it this year.

Apple purportedly began developing the M2 immediately after introducing the M1 chip. The report reiterated Mark Gurman's claim that Apple is testing at least nine new Macs with four different M2 chip variants, and that the first devices with the M2 could debut in the first half of 2022. The chip could first be introduced in Apple's redesigned MacBook Air.

Article Link: Apple Continuing Work on M2 Chip With Help From Samsung

 

[melliflu]

Could Apple sell a Mac and Iphone in the same box, every September, to save the planet?

 

[jayducharme]

Samsung for years has been talking about creating their own chips for a variety of devices, but somehow always seems to be just a fabricator for other companies. I wonder what keeps holding them back.

 

[BootsWalking]

I knew it was a Samsung FC-BGA when I saw the square corners on the chip, otherwise they'd have to pay Apple a patent royalty to use rounded corners

 

[EugW]

Apple purportedly began developing the M2 immediately after introducing the M1 chip.

I'm sure Apple began developing M2 long before the M1 was publicly introduced.

Samsung for years has been talking about creating their own chips for a variety of devices, but somehow always seems to be just a fabricator for other companies. I wonder what keeps holding them back.

??

Samsung has been producing their own chips for many, many years. In fact, the first iPhones used Samsung CPUs.

 

[Matti_]

Samsung for years has been talking about creating their own chips for a variety of devices, but somehow always seems to be just a fabricator for other companies. I wonder what keeps holding them back.

Samsung is not just one company. There is Samsung Display, Samsung Mobile,… so some of them are suppliers and some of them build consumer products

 

[jayducharme]

Samsung has been producing their own chips for many, many years. In fact, the first iPhones used Samsung CPUs.

That's what I was implying; they fabricate chips that others have designed. They did produce a limited amount of their own Exynos chips, but those didn't seem to catch on with other companies.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Does this complicate future Mac buying plans for all of the "I will NEVER buy anything made by Samesung" crowd?*

*not a real question- just poking a bit of fun at the most rabidly passionate among us... possibly much of the same "I love the notch" and "Notch is iconic" group staring at accumulating rumors of a notch-less iPhone that may be launching as soon as this Fall. I hope Apple doesn't lose all of those buyers with such shocking revelations.

 

[dugbug]

This is a weird title. They are providing the BGA, something they do for lots of manufacturers. This has nothing to do with the M2 other than hey, the M2 is a 'chip'.

 

[orbital~debris]

"Cinderella, you shall go to the flip chip ball grid array!"

 

[bLackjackj]

Will be announced at WWDC. A little birdie has just informed me 😏

 

[mikethebigo]

This is a weird title. They are providing the BGA, something they do for lots of manufacturers. This has nothing to do with the M2 other than hey, the M2 is a 'chip'.

Yeah “help from” is a rather odd framing. They’re just one of the many component manufacturers.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Apple is probably Samsung’s biggest client. It looks like the transition to the Apple Silicon Chip is going smooth.

 

[jz0309]

if Apple started developing the M2 after the M1 was introduced - we wouldn't/t see a M2 til 2023/4 ...

so Samsung provides a piece of the chip - why does that matter again?

 

[MayaUser]

Will be announced at WWDC. A little birdie has just informed me ?

hope not that twitter KUO birdie that says the next macbook air will come with M1

 

[IIGS User]

Samsung is a giant company, and their work for Apple generates a lot of revenue for them.

Apple gets a reliable producer, while Samsung gets a good customer. Both do well on the transaction.

Sometimes people see the differences or "rivalries" between companies in the same light as sports teams or politicians.

This simply isn't the case with corporations. What works, works, and what doesn't doesn't. Apple, Samsung, and TSMC work well together to get things "done". As someone stated upthread, Samsung has been a major supplier for Apple for a long time now.

I'm sure Logistics Tim recognizes the "if it aint broke don't fix it" aspect of the relationship, and continues to do business with Samsung because it's good business, and business is good.....

 

[MindYourMind]

So what do Samsung and Apple do with each other: cooperate competitively or compete cooperatively?

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

So what do Samsung and Apple do with each other: cooperate competitively or compete cooperatively?

Sue, sue, sue AND partner, partner, partner... at the SAME time.

• Where the partner seems competitive, SUE.
• Where the defendant offers cost or tech advantage/reliability/margin boost, PARTNER!
• Where there is a bit of both, sue and partner.

I wonder if the legal fees in the battles get offset by the extra gains in cooperative collaborations, where the net payment of actual cash works out to like $1.98 or something like that?

I wonder if those employees with a foot in both adversary and partnering worlds ever have to flip flop their working relationship in the same meetings/visits? "We will sue you to oblivion! See you in court (again)! ... Now are you able to make this part for us for at least 3 cents less than this other supplier? Yes? Great. We want to order 60 million of them from you."

 

[sorgo †]

Two queens maximizing their joint slay 🤩👠💄

 

[hagjohn]

I do not believe for a minute that they started working on M2 right after M1 was released. Something as complicated as Mx SOC would take years to plan and they would have a working roadmap where they are developing multiple SOCs years ahead of time.

 

[krspkbl]

this is why fanboyism is stupid. these huge companies don't give a **** about you defending them on the internet. apple + samsung get on fine with each other.

i'm looking forward to M2. not that i can ****ing afford any of Apple's Macs. at best i'll pick up an iPad with one in it to replace my M1 iPad

 

[theluggage]

Sometimes people see the differences or "rivalries" between companies in the same light as sports teams or politicians.

Well, litigation is the USA's favourite national sport.

Apple is kinda weird in being a $1TN+ company that presents itself like a startup where the celebrity CEO gives the appearance of running everything hands-on out of his garage (albeit a giant, flying-saucer-shaped garage) whereas Samsung is more of an umbrella brand for a conglomerate of semi-autonomous companies making washing machines, phones, chips, industrial equipment... If Apple made a washing machine, they'd pull developers off MacOs to get it ready in time and Tim Cook himself would probably hop up on stage and start waxing lyrical about how revolutionary it was...

 

[sw1tcher]

Samsung for years has been talking about creating their own chips for a variety of devices, but somehow always seems to be just a fabricator for other companies. I wonder what keeps holding them back.

$$$

Being a chip fabricator and making chips for other people is more profitable than making and selling their own chips for their own devices.

Look at their most recent earnings report @ https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-electronics-announces-fourth-quarter-and-fy-2021-results

Note how more profitable the semiconductor division is compared with other divisions, particularly to their mobile device division which they call MX or Mobile eXperience.

Semicondutor business operating margins = 33.99%
Display Panel operating margins = 14.57%
MX and Networks operating margins = 9.19%
CE business operating margins = 4.56%


The semiconductor businesses posted KRW 26.01 trillion in consolidated revenue and KRW 8.84 trillion in operating profit in the fourth quarter.


The Display Panel Business posted KRW 9.06 trillion in consolidated revenue and KRW 1.32 trillion in operating profit for the fourth quarter.


The MX and Networks businesses posted KRW 28.95 trillion in consolidated revenue and KRW 2.66 trillion in operating profit for the fourth quarter.


The CE businesses recorded KRW 15.35 trillion in consolidated revenue and KRW 0.7 trillion in operating profit for the fourth quarter of 2021.

 

[jdb8167]

$$$

Being a chip fabricator and making chips for other people is more profitable than making and selling their own chips for their own devices.

Look at their most recent earnings report @ https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-electronics-announces-fourth-quarter-and-fy-2021-results

Note how more profitable the semiconductor division is compared with other divisions, particularly to their mobile device division which they call MX or Mobile eXperience.

Semicondutor business operating margins = 33.99%
Display Panel operating margins = 14.57%
MX and Networks operating margins = 9.19%
CE business operating margins = 4.56%


The semiconductor businesses posted KRW 26.01 trillion in consolidated revenue and KRW 8.84 trillion in operating profit in the fourth quarter.


The Display Panel Business posted KRW 9.06 trillion in consolidated revenue and KRW 1.32 trillion in operating profit for the fourth quarter.


The MX and Networks businesses posted KRW 28.95 trillion in consolidated revenue and KRW 2.66 trillion in operating profit for the fourth quarter.


The CE businesses recorded KRW 15.35 trillion in consolidated revenue and KRW 0.7 trillion in operating profit for the fourth quarter of 2021.

Counterpoint. Apparently Samsung foundry operations are in some distress. This article claims that they have cultural problems.

https://semianalysis.substack.com/p/samsung-electronics-cultural-issues

 

[Schizoid]

It could be worse, they could have been working with LoveFrom !