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Samsung Investing $4 Billion in Austin, Texas to Boost Smartphone Processor Production
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I trust we both read enough trade press for you to appreciate that I neither keep all those URLs in my head nor have the time to attempt to replace Google.
For those in doubt, consider TSMC's field trip to Cupertino a few months back, and how in spite of that Cook increased orders with Samsung just a few weeks later.
Now it could be that Cook's an idiot, giving money to someone he's suing even though TSMC could step in at any time for less. Or not.
A far more interesting question is what will happen to all of the ARM fabs if Intel's able to come through on their claim of 11nm by 2014? x86 with 50% more battery life seem an interesting combo....
I have my opinions based on over two decades as a continuing and very loyal Apple customer.
Just because I voice my thoughts does _NOT_ in any way indicate that I am against Apple.
I'm simply expressing my opinions about who they are being during this conflict.
You have your opinions, which I have no desire to criticize.
Yet it's very interesting when one party is so judgmental and emotional they must condem the other and be right... so _be_ right!
Feel better?
It is common to request sources on here when someone makes a claim. Also, it is often easier for the person claiming knowledge to get that information again given their own recollection, browsing history, etc.
Given they are different processes, it's not something they can flip like a switch. It would take months and months to migrate to a new process library, get test silicon back, then ramp up to production. Any future business with TSMC could remain intact. It's also possible Apple is looking to create/source components other than its own A series SoCs.
And TSMC rumors still swirl: http://hothardware.com/Reviews/GameChanger-TSMC-May-Build-Dedicated-Apple-Fab/?page=1
Separate business divisions.
They claim 10nm by 2015.
TSMC plans to be on 14nm by then.
As does UMC (And GloFo too, I'm sure).
And x86 is x86.
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This is in the USA. To prevent people from committing suicide, you have to take their guns away. (More than 30,000 suicides a year, and for gun owners an attempted suicide is more likely to be a "successful" suicide).
Samsung & Apple are actually quite similar in some aspects.
My post was addressing _only_ the present moment topic. The lawsuit & resultant legal skirmish between these two powerhouse companies.
There are vast cultural differences, as is to be expected between the companies. Much of what is seen as corrupt, or crooked in how Samsung operates, is perfectly acceptable in the society in which they reside.
The same thing could be said for Apple. They are not angels, nor do we (the public) know what goes on behind closed doors. Especially in the case of Apple since they are the masters at hiding things.
Finally, most of us who are over 35 know, if we have a good knowledge of large scale business in the USA, that corruption, manipulation and various forms of cheating the system, are simply part of doing business.
Make _NO_ mistake. I am very _PRO_ Apple. Yet that does not prevent me from voicing an opinion on what they do wrong, as well as right. Check my posts, some are VERY positive, pro Apple, and helpful to other members.
In 1991 when I joined Apple as a very loyal customer and investor, I could be proud to use their products and admire most everything they did. I've stuck with them through the darkest hours, and continued to buy stock, buy laptops, desktops, and peripherals, all because I continued to believe in them when everyone in my circle of friends thought I was crazy.
I continue to support them, I just don't suck up to them. Never have, never will. I have a mind of my own and will continue to use it. I will be critical, or I will be the first to give Apple credit... all based on the situation of the moment.
Cheers
It's a bit more involved than that. Apple actually has pretty good internal expertise on designing SoCs from their PA Semi acquisition. They mostly take ARM and Imagination Technology designs for CPUs and GPUs and design a single die solution with a few added bits (memory controller, USB controller, etc...). They hand off pretty much a complete design to Samsung who just does the manufacturing part for it.
Samsung's internal SoC designs (the Exynos line-up) differs from Apple in choices of integrated GPU and controllers.
You're obviously not aware of what goes into designing a SOC.
You don't 'assemble' a SOC. Apple is a licensee of both ARM, and PowerVR tech.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5688/apple-ipad-2012-review/11
Have a read up on what actually went into the A5x. Sumsung has NOTHING to do with the design of this chip.
They fab it, but they didn't design it.
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I would tell you to not waste your breath, but that troll has finally been banned.
Based on my trip to Austin last week, the city needs more freeways before it needs new jobs.
now there's something we can agree on
Too bad, as Ron Paul noted (I'm not a fan of his btw, I'm a centre left tree hugger) that Rick Perry left the state in a disastrous financial position - you can thank the so-called 'business-friendly climate' for the debt racked up and the cost to the back pocket of the average Texan who will have to pay up for the debt.
It won't happen because, excluding wage costs, it is expensive to do business in the United States. Maybe when the United States has a single payer healthcare system along with a welfare system that is properly funded then employers won't be expected to pay for all of that stuff. I know if my employer was expected to pay for my healthcare and pension there would be a lot less people employed in my country.
Samsung does produce the majority of its phones in its home country Korea though. My galaxy nexus was made in south Korea and not in the cheaper labor china.
Thank you. THIS is EXACTLY the point!! Something most people don't understand, Samsung divisions are competing very hard often even to the detriment of the other division (mobile vs. semiconductor).
Quick bit googling it seems like Samsung Austin Semiconductor LLC was founded in 1974 but Samsung's investment in them wasn't till 1996. It seems like they run all the Samsung branded Fab's in both in USA and Korea. They seem to spend a fair slab of words on their website asserting their independence.
As always the real story is more wonderfully grey than the sound bite.
So nobody is railing at Samsung, a Korean company, for not building a plant back in their home country and creating more jobs at home? You are blasting Apple for not being patriotic, yet applauding Samsung for supposedly doing the same thing Apple is accused of doing - shifting jobs overseas?
I wonder if people here realise that the world is larger than just the USA. You all talk as though you people here in the US are the only ones deserving of jobs, or that you somehow ought to have the privilege of being automatically considered first for any benefit.
That's actually wrong. About 80% of Samsung phones are made outside Korea in countries with cheaper labor, especially the low end ones. Even the Koreans have been increasing the amount of smartphones made overseas.
Also making phones in Korea is a different story from the USA. Both LG and Pantech, the country's two largest sellers after Samsung, still do make some of their phones in their home country like Samsung. In fact not too many know this but even Nokia has a factory in Korea. So Korea is obviously a cheaper manufacturing destination than the USA.
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Precisely.
With Win8 and Ubuntu both promoting a single OS across the ever more diverse range of form factors, Apple is the last man standing with an arbitrary division of OSes.
As the form-factor diversity continues to overlap functionality and use cases, it seems reasonable to expect that Apple will join the rest of the world by merging iOS and OS X; I'd put my money on within three years.
An x86 instruction set offering both unbeatable performance on the desktop and unbeatable energy savings in mobile devices would surely shake things up a bit for the ARM consortium, and open up many new opportunities to device makers.
So you think Intel can produce a new x86 ISA that promotes both legacy compliance and a less register dependent methodology that is comparable in IPC with ARM? I don't.
Yeah that is if intel actually delivers a chip with "unbeatable" energy savings in mobile devices which may or may not happen.
I would never write off ARM that easily.
Sure why not, but then they'll only sell them packaged on a carrier board the size of an iPhone ;-)
Right, Samsung sold about 300 million phones in 2011, and plan on selling over 370 million this year.
Most of those are low end dumbphones with profit margins of just a few dollars, so it makes sense that they are manufactured wherever is cheapest.
Ditto for low end smartphones.
AFAIK, most of their high end devices are still made in Korea, or at least finished in Korea... unless they're destined for a domestic market in a factory country like China or VietNam. I believe your article link noted that over 5 million Samsung phones are made each month in one Korean factory.
Both my Galaxy Nexus and my Tab 10.1 were made in Korea. I don't think my Tab 7 was, but I'll have to look.
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