More Reports of TSMC Beginning Trial Production of A6 Chip for 2012 Launch
Taiwan Economic News reports that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has indeed begun trial production of Apple's next-generation A6 system-on-a-chip, with the design set to be "publicly unveiled" in the second quarter of 2012 at the earliest. The A6 is expected to power Apple's iOS devices scheduled for release next year.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TSMC), the world’s largest semiconductor foundry by market shares now, has allegedly started trial production of the A6 processor in cooperation with Apple Inc., with the production design to be taped out in the first quarter of next year and scheduled to be publicly unveiled in the second quarter at the earliest, according to industry sources.
Accordingly, TSMC has applied its newest 28-nanometer process and 3D stacking technologies to produce the next-generation processor A6, which is based on the ARM architecture and will undergo TSMC’s cutting-edge silicon interposer and bump on trace (BOT) methodologies.
According to the report, TSMC has been capable of and interested in working with Apple on chip production for some time, but has only recently had the production capacity available to open up to a deal.
Today's report essentially repeats a Reuters article from nearly one month ago claiming that TSMC had begun trial production on the new chip as Apple seeks to shift away from Samsung, which has been the manufacturer for Apple's custom ARM-based chip.
Rumors have consistently pointed to a 2012 release for the A6 chip, although the new claim of availability in the "second quarter at the earliest" would appear to force a tight timeline for Apple to push out an iPad based on the new chip in March or April as it has the past two years. Apple has been rumored to be releasing updated or additional iPad models later this year, and while those models would obviously not be running on the A6 chip, they could buy Apple some time to get the A6 up and running in 2012's models.
Popular Stories
Following nearly two years of rumors about a fourth-generation iPhone SE, The Information today reported that Apple suppliers are finally planning to begin ramping up mass production of the device in October of this year. If accurate, that timeframe would mean that the next iPhone SE would not be announced alongside the iPhone 16 series in September, as expected. Instead, the report...
Key details about the overall specifications of the iPhone 17 lineup have been shared by the leaker known as "Ice Universe," clarifying several important aspects of next year's devices. Reports in recent months have converged in agreement that Apple will discontinue the "Plus" iPhone model in 2025 while introducing an all-new iPhone 17 "Slim" model as an even more high-end option sitting...
Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today shared alleged specifications for a new ultra-thin iPhone 17 model rumored to launch next year. Kuo expects the device to be equipped with a 6.6-inch display with a current-size Dynamic Island, a standard A19 chip rather than an A19 Pro chip, a single rear camera, and an Apple-designed 5G chip. He also expects the device to have a...
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
Apple’s iCloud Private Relay service is down for some users, according to Apple’s System Status page. Apple says that the iCloud Private Relay service may be slow or unavailable. The outage started at 2:34 p.m. Eastern Time, but it does not appear to be affecting all iCloud users. Some impacted users are unable to browse the web without turning iCloud Private Relay off, while others are...
