This week I told you that Apple and TSMC concluded a partnership through which, starting in 2014 the Taiwanese would produce the chips implemented by Apple in iDevices. Starting with the A8 chip, TSMC would produce some of these components for Apple, the partnership allowing those from Cupertino to distance themselves by the Koreans from Samsung. Despite the signing of this agreement, Samsung will remain the main supplier of chips for iDevices next year, and from 2015 TSMC will assume a much more important role in the manufacture of these components.
This month, after years of technical delays, Apple finally signed a deal with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. 2330.TW +6.22% to make some of the chips starting in 2014, according to a TSMC executive. The process had been beset by glitches preventing the chips from meeting Apple's speed and power standards, TSMC officials said. Despite the deal, Samsung will remain the primary supplier through next year, one of these executives said.
Based on the partnership, those from TSMC would manufacture part of the A8 chips that would end up in future iDevices, they could be produced using a 20nm manufacturing process, but in the future we could also see processors quad-core made in Taiwan. Apple tried for several years to conclude a contract with TSMC, but the inability of the Taiwanese to produce enough chips without problems prevented the completion of the partnership. To be honest, I think that this change of partners should have happened many years ago and in the end we will not suffer from it.
