Samsung Manufacturing Issues Reportedly Overblown, May Split A8 Production with TSMC - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Samsung Manufacturing Issues Reportedly Overblown, May Split A8 Production with TSMC

Samsung may play a larger role in the production of Apple's next generation A8 processor than previously rumored, claims ZDNet Korea (via GforGames). According to the report, the Korean company has already signed a contract to produce the A8 processor at its Austin, Texas plant and is in the final stages of testing before mass production begins.

tsmc_samsung_logo
This latest information from an anonymous Samsung official contradicts an earlier report that said Samsung was struggling with poor yields of the A8 processor and could not meet Apple's demands. As a result, the bulk of A8 chip production was said to be shifting to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). These "manufacturing issues" were "exaggerated claims" says the Samsung source, stating that the company is ready to start mass production of the A8 in Q2 2014.

While Samsung and TSMC may be splitting A8 production however, the latter already appears to have a lead on the Korean manufacturer. A recent report from Taiwan's Commercial Times claims TSMC has started production of the next generation chip.

Samsung has been the exclusive manufacturer of Apple's A-series chips, but Apple has been looking to depend less on its rival by shifting some of its orders to TSMC. Apple reportedly struck a deal with TSMC in 2013 to start A-series chip production early in 2014.

Popular Stories

iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching in Two Months With These 12 New Features

Friday July 24, 2026 7:26 pm PDT by
It is now late July, and that means the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are less than two months away. The devices are expected to look similar to the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, but there will still be many year-over-year changes, with rumored features including a smaller Dynamic Island, 5G via satellite, and more. Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro...
macbook ultra

'MacBook Ultra' Coming Soon With These 12 New Features

Friday July 24, 2026 6:00 pm PDT by
Apple's first high-end MacBook redesign in five years is expected to arrive in the near future, bringing a run of firsts to the Mac. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman expects the laptop to arrive between late 2026 and early 2027, with the later window now looking more likely owing to the global memory chip shortage. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo expects mass production to begin by late 2026. Apple last...
5 Reasons to Buy the iPhone 17 Now Feature

5 Reasons to Buy the iPhone 17 Now Instead of Waiting for iPhone 18

Thursday July 23, 2026 8:26 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone 18 Pro models and its first foldable are less than two months from being unveiled. That may sound like a reason to sit tight if you're looking to upgrade from an iPhone 16 or older series, but between looming price hikes and Apple's new split-launch calendar, there's a decent case for grabbing an iPhone 17 series model right now. Here are five reasons in favor of putting your order ...

Top Rated Comments

pgiguere1 Avatar
162 months ago
Hasn't that rumor pattern about Samsung stopping fabbing Apple SoCs been repeated for the last 3 years already?
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DipDog3 Avatar
162 months ago
It seems that these days all the rumors we get are contradicting each other :)

Also known as, just making stuff up.
Obviously none of these so called reporters have any idea what is going on.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
162 months ago
Phew that was lucky, Samsung would've been toast if they were truly sidelined by their unwitting mentor. Who would they copy [cough], I mean draw inspiration from if they had been?

It's a full time job copying the competition and rerouting your R & D budget into marketing, to ram your products down consumers throats. Genius business tactic - cheaper to copy and pay for patent infringement in court than to spend on original R & D.

Samsung are the equivalent of those dodgy market places in south east asia where you can buy cheap knock offs of anything from Armani suits to televisions. When are the courts going to stop this? I guess there is a political and economic motivation behind allowing Samsung to get away with this consistently - other than last year's victory.


Please enlighten me how you can tell what a device is going to look like and how the OS will operate from just knowing or producing a chip that goes inside it.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
162 months ago
Phew that was lucky, Samsung would've been toast if they were truly sidelined by their unwitting mentor. Who would they copy [cough], I mean draw inspiration from if they had been?

It's a full time job copying the competition and rerouting your R & D budget into marketing, to ram your products down consumers throats. Genius business tactic - cheaper to copy and pay for patent infringement in court than to spend on original R & D.

Samsung are the equivalent of those dodgy market places in south east asia where you can buy cheap knock offs of anything from Armani suits to televisions. When are the courts going to stop this? I guess there is a political and economic motivation behind allowing Samsung to get away with this consistently - other than last year's victory.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
FirstNTenderbit Avatar
162 months ago
Phew that was lucky, Samsung would've been toast if they were truly sidelined by their unwitting mentor. Who would they copy [cough], I mean draw inspiration from if they had been?

It's a full time job copying the competition and rerouting your R & D budget into marketing, to ram your products down consumers throats. Genius business tactic - cheaper to copy and pay for patent infringement in court than to spend on original R & D.

Samsung are the equivalent of those dodgy market places in south east asia where you can buy cheap knock offs of anything from Armani suits to televisions. When are the courts going to stop this? I guess there is a political and economic motivation behind allowing Samsung to get away with this consistently - other than last year's victory.

Congrats! This is an excellent example of spontaneously combustible material. Flame on.:o
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
typeadam Avatar
162 months ago
Phew that was lucky, Samsung would've been toast if they were truly sidelined by their unwitting mentor. Who would they copy [cough], I mean draw inspiration from if they had been?

It's a full time job copying the competition and rerouting your R & D budget into marketing, to ram your products down consumers throats. Genius business tactic - cheaper to copy and pay for patent infringement in court than to spend on original R & D.

Samsung are the equivalent of those dodgy market places in south east asia where you can buy cheap knock offs of anything from Armani suits to televisions. When are the courts going to stop this? I guess there is a political and economic motivation behind allowing Samsung to get away with this consistently - other than last year's victory.

You realize that Samsung doesn't only make phones, right? And that their phones are only a percentage of their business. Furthermore, Samsung has been accused of copying the software/UX/OS, not the hardware, AFAIK.
So I seriously doubt they would've been "toast."
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)