The rumors have been going on for months, but Digitimes is today saying Apple’s new processor foundry is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). The move by Apple is believed to be precipitated by Apple’s ongoing legal battles with Samsung, who has provided Apple with processors since the original iPhone was released in 2007 through Apple’s release of “its own” A4 processor and A5 iPad processor earlier this year.
The contract appears to be long and lucrative for TSMC..
The details weren’t released publicly and as can be expected, neither company is commenting on the move.
In addition, the agreed contract quotes are favorable to bring little impact on TSMC’s profitability, the sources revealed. TSMC managed to negotiate a good price, allowing gross margins yielded by Apple’s orders to be similar to its overall gross margin performance at present, the sources indicated. TSMC’s gross margin for the second quarter of 2011 arrived at 46%.
- TSMC at full capacity during iPad 3 processor build times (9to5mac.com)
- Apple behind big last-minute chip order with TSMC? (9to5mac.com)
- Apple begins test production of A6 processor with TSMC, a blow to Samsung (9to5mac.com)
- Apple begins testing TSMC A6 processor with 28-nanometer process, coming Q2 next year (9to5mac.com)
