A few weeks ago I told you that Apple intends to give up at Samsung regarding the production of the A6 chip for iPad 3 and iPhone 6 again today we find out that Apple has already started testing the new chip together with TSMC, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. TMSC is the largest semiconductor manufacturer and Apple's new A6 chip will be built using a 28 nanometer process, a more efficient production process that will help develop smaller processors that emit less heat and enable activation more cores.
Taipei, Aug. 12, 2011 (CENS)–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. Industry insiders said that the manufacturing will help to pump considerable momentum into TSMC's business growth starting next year, although the company has yet to comment on the deal for the moment.
The transition from Samsung to TSMC was expected by almost everyone considering that relations between Samsung and Apple are cooling, including the lawsuit filed by the company from Cupertino. Of course, Samsung will continue to supply components for the iPhone 4 and iPad 2, but regarding the future iDevices, Apple could give up the services of those from Samsung regarding the production of processors. For the average user, the change will not have a noticeable effect considering that the iDevices will be built based on the same standards as before.
The new A6 processors from Apple should be launched in Q2 2012, that is, between April and July, but it is possible to have iPad 3 right in the middle of March.
