For some time there has been a certain curiosity to know who would be the manufacturer of each new Apple chip for their mobile devices. Rather, the curiosity was in knowing if Samsung would continue to be the company responsible for putting the engine to the iPad and iPhone after the two companies were embroiled in legal battles for a couple of years. Now it seems that the A8 chip will be produced mostly by TSMC but still Samsung will remain involved in this new SoC.
We recently discovered that the A7 chip found in the iPhone 5S is made by Samsung. The 64-bit chip that created so much appreciation in its presentation also came out of the ovens of the great rival. The news took us somewhat by surprise since different leaks suggested that TSMC had already entered the game and Apple had already made significant movements to eliminate components made by the Koreans from among the parts with which they create their iPads.
A report by the South Korean publication Hankyung that collects Digitimes suggests that among the 60 and 70% will be manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, while the rest would be manufactured by Samsung Electronics.
Another recent report claimed that Samsung will be able to manufacture 20nm processors since early 2014, just like TSMC. Perhaps here is the key to everything and that is that there are two objectives on the scale: the a [sitename] to move towards smaller and more efficient chips, on the one hand, and reduce dependence on Samsung, for another.
The information we receive today confirms that TSMC will be offering enough guarantees to Apple to pass the majority of the production to it. However, although it is not a dish of taste, they fully trust Samsung's results as a chip manufacturer, as shown by the fact that they were commissioned to manufacture the A7, the most groundbreaking chip that the company has designed in recent years.
Source: Digitimes