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TSMC to Begin Trial Production of Apple's A6X Chip This Quarter

Wednesday January 2, 2013 5:36 am PST by Eric Slivka
AFP reports on claims from Taiwanese newspaper Commercial Times indicating that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is set to begin trial production of Apple's A6X chip sometime this quarter. The chip is currently used in the fourth-generation iPad introduced in October.
The Taiwanese company has been contracted to manufacture the A6X chip, which drives Apple's iPad4 tablet, with trial production set for the first quarter of this year, Taiwan's Commercial Times reported.

The move is the latest in a strings of efforts by Apple to switch mass manufacturing contracts away from Samsung, it said.
Apple has been rumored for some time to be trying to switch to TSMC for production of its A-series chips, with some reports claiming that TSMC would be coming on board late this year for next-generation chips. More recent reports have claimed that TSMC could start production for Apple as soon as the second quarter, perhaps in line with today's rumor of trial production in the first quarter of the year.

[ 63 comments ]


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ItsWelshy
81 months ago

I've really never understood why people continue to call Samsung's phones "cheap," as if the plastic used is terrible quality.


Beacuse they are?

Step 1: Hold Galaxy phone in hand
Step 2: Give gentle squeeze
Step 3: listen to the creaking and feel the rubbish build quality
Step 4: Put rubbish phone down, pick iPhone up
Step 5: Squeeze iPhone and observe the wonderful build quality
Step 6: Buy iPhone.
Step 7: Repeat steps 1-7 yearly
Rating: 19 Votes
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Newton70
81 months ago
Excellent news, Samsung can now better concentrate on making cheap, plastic phones.
Rating: 8 Votes
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hayesk
81 months ago

Try this on for size

Apple still needs Samsung.

At this point tsmc cannot produce enough chips.


The key words here being "at this point". Apple can throw a billion dollars at TSMC and say "go build us a factory." In a year or two, will Apple need Samsung?
Rating: 6 Votes
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Compile 'em all
81 months ago
Bye bye, Samsung!
Rating: 6 Votes
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harveyhanson
81 months ago

I've really never understood why people continue to call Samsung's phones "cheap," as if the plastic used is terrible quality.


I have a galaxy note 2, 1 drop on the floor and I can now see a lot of the white bezel underneath the very thin paint coating on plastic! So yeah, I would say Samsung phones are built on the cheap, you get what you pay for, that's where the price difference of £50 came between iPhone and Galaxy Note 2 in my case, better materials...
Rating: 6 Votes
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chrmjenkins
81 months ago

I've really never understood why people continue to call Samsung's phones "cheap," as if the plastic used is terrible quality.


Or as if plastic means cheap. It's like people completely forgot the 3G and 3GS.
Rating: 4 Votes
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Resseh
81 months ago

Yay!

TSMC for Chips
Sharp for Screen

Bye Bye Samsdung....

Waiting for the headline "Samsung follow Apple into TSMC chip trial"



on the macbooks, samsung's screens are better quality than the LG ones. with people swapping them until they get a samsung screen. cant believe this makes you happy. quite sad really :(
Rating: 4 Votes
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AppleScruff1
81 months ago

I have a galaxy note 2, 1 drop on the floor and I can now see a lot of the white bezel underneath the very thin paint coating on plastic! So yeah, I would say Samsung phones are built on the cheap, you get what you pay for, that's where the price difference of £50 came between iPhone and Galaxy Note 2 in my case, better materials...


Drop your iPhone 4 and the glass breaks.
Rating: 4 Votes
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irDigital0l
81 months ago

Bye bye, Samsung!


Remember what happened to 'Bye bye, Google'?

hahahaha
Rating: 4 Votes
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thekev
81 months ago

Once again all the celebrations about how Apple is sticking it to Samsung ignoring the fact that Apple is probably setting up the next Samsung-like sequence of events with TSMC. Sure, TSMC is not in the consumer products business right now but after Apple shows them the way and they watch Apple rake it in, it's only a matter of time before someone there sees the same light that Samsung saw.

THE answer is not to move from one Asian manufacturer to others and trust that the latter won't follow the very profitable lead set by Samsung. Believing that TSMC and LG and Sharp and others will behave and leave all that profit to Apple is the same as believing that Samsung would behave right up until Samsung decided to more and more directly compete against Apple.

Enjoy the illusion but see it as such. It's only a matter of time before new parters learn from the association and then start applying what they learn to their own offerings. One Samsung "ripping off Apple" becomes 5 or 10 just a little ways down this road.


This is nothing more than baseless fear mongering. Samsung existed in consumer electronics prior to fabbing chips for Apple. They didn't enter the market that way. The same goes for LG. Sharp doesn't even have the money to invest here. Are you suggesting Apple should purchase a foundry when they have no prior experience in fabrication? None of these shops started off with such large orders.


You should be sadder when Samsung holds Apple ransom if they're still the dominant supplier.


Some of you turn everything into hyperbole. You're essentially talking about supplier contracts, yet call it a "ransom".
Rating: 3 Votes

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