TSMC Begins Trial Manufacturing of Apple A6 Processors

[MacRumors]

Reuters reports that Taiwanese manufacturer TSMC has already started a trial manufacturing of the A6 system-on-chip for Apple, Inc.

Apple has been reported to be shifting its chip manufacturing from Samsung to a "non-competititor" such as TSMC. Whether TSMC actually wins the contract from Apple will depend on their ability to produce a high enough yield of the A6 processors.

"TSMC has got all the authorization and details ready. Whether Apple puts in a formal order will depend on the yield rate," the source said.

Such a shift to TSMC would be a significant loss to Samsung. Apple has become Samsung's biggest customer with over $7.8 billion in product contracts this year. The two companies, however, have had an increasingly uneasy relationship with lawsuits and accusations that Samsung has been copying Apple's iPhone and iPad products.

The A6 will be the successor to Apple's A5 system-on-chip which presently powers the iPad 2. Like the A4 before it, the A5 contains an ARM processor, graphics processing unit and RAM for Apple's mobile devices. The A5 is also expected to power the upcoming iPhone 5.

It's not clear what additional improvements we'll see with the A6 chip, but one possibility is the incorporation of the latest PowerVR Series 6 GPU which promises a significant graphical performance boost to the current implementation. The A6 chip has been previously rumored to be shipping in 2012.

Article Link: TSMC Begins Trial Manufacturing of Apple A6 Processors

 

[coasterswim]

iPhone 5 - iOS 5 - A5
iPhone 6 - iOS 6 - A6

hmm.....

 

[neko girl]

And Samsung is now test-running 20 nm. Hmm.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/other/..._Produces_First_20nm_ARM_Based_Test_Chip.html

 

[ZipZapRap]

Big loss for Samsung if true.

But come on over to WP7

 

[res1233]

iPhone 5 - iOS 5 - A5
iPhone 6 - iOS 6 - A6

hmm.....

That's the idea. It really gives you a sense of the level to which all these products are integrated.

Oh yah, also: iPhone 4 - iOS 4 - A4

 

[chrmjenkins]

And Samsung is now test-running 20 nm. Hmm.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/other/..._Produces_First_20nm_ARM_Based_Test_Chip.html

Yeah, they are likely testing out TSMC's 28 nm process. AMD's southern islands GPU is known to have taped out in February so they should have at least first silicon back by now, so this isn't a surprise. The real question is if A6 is just an A5 die shrink.

 

[Acerone]

iPhone 5 - iOS 5 - A5
iPhone 6 - iOS 6 - A6

hmm.....

And?

iPad 3 - IOS 6 - A6

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Big loss for Samsung if true.

But come on over to WP7

not really. You need to remember that the void Apple would leave for a client would be very easy to replace. Much easier than Apple replacing Samsung. There are advantages to shortages in ARM and silcon parts. Supplier hold most of the cards.

 

[nunes013]

what does everyone think the A6 might be. like just at a higher frequency than the A5 (maybe at 1.2 or 1.5 GHz). or does anyone think they might make a quad core (but that would kill battery). i just dont know what more they can add because they A5 is a really powerful chip.

 

[cmaier]

not really. You need to remember that the void Apple would leave for a client would be very easy to replace. Much easier than Apple replacing Samsung. There are advantages to shortages in ARM and silcon parts. Supplier hold most of the cards.

LOL. Idle fabs are incredibly expensive things. It will raise the cost of even Samsung's own products.

 

[2IS]

This "move" is a bigger headache for Apple than Samsung, that much I can assure you. Apple is a Samsung customer and is reliant upon them. Samsung never has and never will be reliant on Apple. Their silicon goes into a LOT of products that don't have tattooed on them.

 

[cmaier]

This "move" is a bigger headache for Apple than Samsung, that much I can assure you. Apple is a Samsung customer and is reliant upon them. Samsung never has and never will be reliant on Apple. Their silicon goes into a LOT of products that don't have tattooed on them.

how on earth is it a "headache?" They no longer have to contend with a non-standard process, their EDA tools and flows will be much happier, and they likely will pay less per wafer.

 

[2IS]

how on earth is it a "headache?" They no longer have to contend with a non-standard process, their EDA tools and flows will be much happier, and they likely will pay less per wafer.

How is it not? Put your apple shaded glasses away for a minute and stop being such a senseless fanboy and actually think about what you're saying for a change.

Apple's products depend on these processors and they have a steady and reliable supply right now through Samsung. Changing suppliers for a vital part of so many of your products is not something Apple is taking lightly, I assure you.

Moreover, apple does not have to "contend" with anything. They don't manufacture any circuits, so what exactly are they having to "contend" with as to the manufacturing processes?

 

[Exponent]

LOL. Idle fabs are incredibly expensive things. It will raise the cost of even Samsung's own products.

Yeah, that's for sure. When I was at IBM, my group's job was to find jobs to keep the Fishkill fab as fully utilized as practically possible....

One thing's for sure - I bet Apple gets a whole lot better service & support than the vast majority of us who've taped out at TSMC!

 

[TripHop]

I Hope A6 Is A Low Power Quad Core

what does everyone think the A6 might be. like just at a higher frequency than the A5 (maybe at 1.2 or 1.5 GHz). or does anyone think they might make a quad core (but that would kill battery). i just dont know what more they can add because they A5 is a really powerful chip.

I'm not sure more cores would necessarily be a battery eater. Plus there's new battery tech that will last way longer than today's batteries. Here's hoping for the best.

 

[MattInOz]

not really. You need to remember that the void Apple would leave for a client would be very easy to replace. Much easier than Apple replacing Samsung. There are advantages to shortages in ARM and silcon parts. Supplier hold most of the cards.

Depends if those other customers aren't restricted by some other bigger more vital factor, like lack of screens or demand.

 

[ny3ranger]

I dont really know the business of processor manufacturing. So I cant really comment on whose headache is bigger. Most people that comment on anything in blogs dont have any idea either. We just tend to make up our minds from what we read and we could be completely off what is actually true. People need to start putting in the phrase "in my opinion" more often.

BUT....

In my opinion for Apple its a bigger headache to have Samsung as a partner and a rival. So in that sense Apple cannot have a bigger headache by leaving Samsung then staying with them.

Who made the processor for the original iphone/3g/3gs? Samsung cannot be the only processor maker out there. Qualcom makes the snapdragon, IBM, AMD? How many clients would samsung need for 7.8 billion dollar a year business?

This "move" is a bigger headache for Apple than Samsung, that much I can assure you. Apple is a Samsung customer and is reliant upon them. Samsung never has and never will be reliant on Apple. Their silicon goes into a LOT of products that don't have tattooed on them.

 

[commander.data]

what does everyone think the A6 might be. like just at a higher frequency than the A5 (maybe at 1.2 or 1.5 GHz). or does anyone think they might make a quad core (but that would kill battery). i just dont know what more they can add because they A5 is a really powerful chip.

Apple has so far kept the same basic technology for 2 generations, probably to amortize cost and programming optimization time. Specifically, ARM11/PowerVR MBX Lite was kept for gen 1 and 2 iPhones and ARM Cortex A8/PowerVR SGX535 was kept for gen 3 and 4 iPhones. As such I would expect the Apple A6 to remain Cortex A9/PowerVR SGX543. I think it'll remain dual core CPU just higher clocked, since the use cases of quad core seems to be lower on a mobile device, even a tablet, compared to laptops and desktops. The GPU may be bumped to a SGX543MP4 mainly to meet the demands of a Retina iPad 3. PoweVR multicore GPU architecture is supposed to be very scalable so going from SGX543MP2 to SGX543MP4 will probably be less driver work than switching to the next gen PowerVR 6.

The thing about moving away from Samsung is are they changing their RAM source? While flash memory is sourced from both Samsung and Toshiba, I believe RAM is only sourced from Samsung since they integrated it right on to the SoC package.

 

[biggest father1]

And?

iPad 3 - IOS 6 - A6

iPad just joined in the game late.

 

[firewood]

Moreover, apple does not have to "contend" with anything. They don't manufacture any circuits, so what exactly are they having to "contend" with as to the manufacturing processes?

It sounds like you've never had to meet strange design rules and tape out a chip to be fabbed in some non-standard process. It's more than an giant headache.

 

[fertilized-egg]

I dont really know the business of processor manufacturing. So I cant really comment on whose headache is bigger.
...

Who made the processor for the original iphone/3g/3gs? Samsung cannot be the only processor maker out there. Qualcom makes the snapdragon, IBM, AMD? How many clients would samsung need for 7.8 billion dollar a year business?

I don't know much about it either but one thing I have heard is that AFAIK Samsung and its LSI division is a relatively new comer in the sector compared to TSMC is the established incumbent, and Apple has been an extremely valued customer to the fab and the LSI division which operate separately from Samsung's mobile division, as with most modern business profit centers tend to do.

In fact, it has been said Apple is so important to the LSI division that even Samsung's own mobile division has been struggling getting enough production of the Exynos chip due to Apple's chip orders getting the priority over the Samsung mobile division's.


I don't know how truthful all these reports are, but one thing's for sure, I'd hate to be the guy leading the LSI division.

 

[commander.data]

iPad just joined in the game late.

The iPad and iPhone seem like testbeds for different things. The iPad introduces a new SoC on an existing proven OS, while the iPhone introduces a new OS on a existing proven SoC. That certainly lowers the risk of doing both things at once.

 

[Consultant]

Hopefully this happens soon so Samsung would lose their one of their largest customer and a significantly source of revenue.

And Samsung is now test-running 20 nm. Hmm.
<link removed>

Currently new process.

That means:
- experimental, won't be ready for years
- high defects
- low yield

 

[Rodimus Prime]

LOL. Idle fabs are incredibly expensive things. It will raise the cost of even Samsung's own products.

You are telling me that they could not find another client/clients that would fill Apple void.
I was implying that the fabs would not sit idle for very long if at all. So back to my orginal point.

Depends if those other customers aren't restricted by some other bigger more vital factor, like lack of screens or demand.

You are limiting yourself to only the phone market. You need to remember the market is a lot bigger than phone or even devices with screens.

 

[AppleScruff1]

Hopefully this happens soon so Samsung would lose their one of their largest customer and a significantly source of revenue.



Currently new process.

That means:
- experimental, won't be ready for years
- high defects
- low yield

Yea, that would be great if Samsung went out of business. I'm hoping for the day when Apple is the only company on earth and and that one day it will make all consumer and industrial products. I'm talking cars, airplanes, supermarkets, gasoline, electricity, etc. Apple will have all of the money in the world, and then everyone here will finally be happy.