The patent battle between Apple and Samsung did not initially affect their business relationships. Samsung continued to supply screens for the New iPad and chips, for phones and tablets, to Apple as if nothing had happened. At the moment of the screens nothing has been said but everything indicates that Samsung won't make the A7 processor expected to arrive for the next tablet of the American company, the iPad 4, and its next phone, the iPhone 6.
The South Korean newspaper The Korean Times collects the anonymous testimony of a veteran Samsung executive who indicates that the relationship between the two companies for the manufacture of chips is about to end. It will stop using the technology of its main rival and will use the services of the Taiwanese company TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) for the design of the A7 chip believed to be quad-core and built on a process at 20 nm.
Until now Apple designed the chips and Samsung manufactured them in its forge at 32 nm. Some analysts suggest that Apple is looking for a production at lower nm (nanometers) and that this is the basis of the decision and not the resentments between the two companies over the recent legal dispute. Remember, being able to build at fewer nanometers allows you to put more transistors in less space and get better performance and energy efficiency.
Another detail that reaffirms that the origin of the decision is a clear commitment to technological improvement is in the recent hiring of Jim Mergard by Apple. Mergard was AMD vice president and chief engineering officer for 16 years. Curiously, his last job was at Samsung. Jim Mergard is a specialist in SoC chips, that is, a chip system that integrates CPU and GPU in a single chip, like all Apple chips since the A4. In addition, he is an expert in laptop processors. Apple wants to use this experience to refocus its processor manufacturing strategy.
Samsung had been working for the manufacture of chips at 20 nm and even at 14 nm for some time and will probably be able to do so in 2013, but as indicated by the manager, interviewed by the Korean newspaper, Apple wants to reduce dependency that you have from your rival and stop contributing money to nurture that competition. And it is not necessary to forget that those of Cupertino are the main client of the South Korean company, generated 9% of its profits of with the fabrications that he makes for them.