Apple could be dumping Samsung in favor of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for the production of its next-generation A6 processors for iPhones, iPads, and other mobile devices, according to a Merrill Lynch analyst. The rumored move away from Samsung, with which Apple is engaged in texta highly charged intellectual property battle over alleged design similarities between Apple's products and Samsung's Galaxy S smartphones and tablets, would happened in 2012, according Merrill Lynch semiconductor analyst Dan Heyler, the Chinese-language Commercial Times reported late last week.
Samsung currently manufactures Apple's A5 processors on a foundry basis. A rumored move by Apple from Samsung to TSMC for 40-nanomenter, ARM-based chips didn't pan out.
Instead, Apple stuck with its old foundry partner for the A5, which Samsung manufactures using its 45-nm process.
But now Apple plans to make the move to TSMC in earnest for another foundry-based contract to make 28-nm A6 chips, reports Ars Technica, citing Heyler and "numerous sources inside the semiconductor industry."
The site also reported that there was a "remote possibility" that Apple could tap Intel for manufacture of its A6 processors on Intel's upcoming 22-nm, TriGate process technology, if the leading maker of x86-based chips can accommodate the A6's ARM-based architecture.
If TSMC does pick up Apple's business, it won't represent much of a bump to the Taiwanese foundry's existing sales of tablet-optimized chips, according to Heyler. If TSMC gets all of Apple's orders for tablet processors in 2012, it would only account for about 2 percent of the foundry's overall annual sales, the analyst told the Commercial Times.
TSMC's non-tablet chip production is projected to represent about 3 percent of the company's revenue in 2011 and 4 percent in 2012, the paper quoted Heyler as saying.
Apple did not respond to PCMag request for comment.
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