Chips

Apple accelerating plans to make a jump to TSMC for mobile chips

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 10, 2012

Last time we heard, Apple was going to move its mobile chip production from Samsung's $14 billion Texas facility to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world's largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry, some time in 2014. But according to Taipei Times, the company could make the jump earlier than expected as it's now looking to tap TSMC's fabrication capability to make next-gen processors for iPhones and iPads as soon as the second quarter of 2013, using TSMC's 28-nanometer process...

Apple’s rumored chip switch understood to upset hotshots Nvidia and Qualcomm

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

Apple's been distancing itself from Samsung for quite some time, by purchasing components elsewhere. The company recently added new display and battery providers to its supply chain.

This summer, it started increasing spending on Elpida memory chip at Samsung's expense.

But as Apple increasingly sources major components from other suppliers, it has yet to make a switch to a non-Samsung silicon foundry. According to the latest chatter from Asia, Tim Cook and Co. remain adamant to take Apple's chip making contract to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) as early as possible.

But though TSMC, the world's largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry, has enough capacity to make the 200 million+ processors Apple needs annually for iPhones, iPads and iPods, such a move bears a significant risk of upsetting TSMC's major buyers such as Nvidia and Qualcomm...

Apple just needs smart sensors so AuthenTec unloads its encryption biz

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 19, 2012

AuthenTec, the maker of NFC chips and smart sensors that Apple bought in the summer for $356 million, has sold off its division which makes encryption-based security hardware and software. The buyer is French NFC maker and contactless chip provider Inside Secure and the transaction is valued at $48 million.

That Apple decided to get rid of AuthenTec's Embedded Security Solutions division is another tell-tale sign that the iPhone maker snapped up AuthenTec for its NFC solutions and smart sensors that are not part of the Inside Secure deal.

Yes Mr. Schiller, I know "Passbook does the kinds of things customers need today", but Apple did drop $356 million on an NFC tech maker and obviously your next iPhone is going to have NFC...

Intel lets go of its CEO amid mobile struggles

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 27, 2017

Intel, the world's #1 chip maker, has been trying and failing for years to replicate its PC leadership status in mobile. Today, the company issued an unexpected update, saying its long-time CEO Paul Otellini will be retiring in May 2013. Though the semiconductor giant insists this is just "an orderly leadership transition", Otellini's successor has not been named and Intel said it will consider internal and external candidates for the job. Intel currently supplies processors for Apple's Macs, but that could change if the rumor-mill is to be trusted...

Samsung now more assertive in price negotiations over Apple’s hostile tactics

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 16, 2012

Apple appears to be resolving its legal woes with other Android backers such as HTC, reportedly seeking arbitration and even mulling a global settlement with Google's subsidiary Motorola Mobility. On the other hand, the company is to this date entangled in a complicated web of patent disputes with Samsung, from whom it sources components for iOS devices.

And as the frenemies seek to add new gadgets to their respective list of infringing products, one analyst believes Apple's hostile tactics has forced the Galaxy maker to divert from its original business strategy. As a result, the component arm of the South Korean conglomerate has become "more assertive" in price negotiations with Apple, refusing to invest billions of dollars in plants and manufacturing technology without long-term commitment from Apple...

Samsung denies massive chip price hike that could hurt Apple’s margins

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 14, 2012

Monday's news by South Korean newspaper Chosun alleging Samsung was jacking up prices of Apple mobile chips by as much as twenty percent in order to get even with its largest component buyer for losing more than $1 billion in damages in the massive Apple v. Samsung patent case is untrue, an unnamed Samsung executive reportedly told a Korean newspaper Wednesday. A-series of chips that power iOS devices are designed by Apple and built exclusively by Samsung at its sophisticated facility in Austin, Texas...

Samsung allegedly ups Apple chip prices by 20 percent

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 12, 2012

Samsung Electronics, which manufactures Apple-designed chips for iPads and iPhones exclusively at its Austin, Texas facility, has reportedly hit the iPhone maker with a material 20 percent price hike. Unsurprisingly, per an unnamed person allegedly familiar with negotiations between the two companies, this price increase is only aimed at Apple and not other Samsung clients. Apple up until recently used to account for as much as 8.8 percent of Samsung's revenue. It's been estimated that Apple ordered 130 million iPhone and iPad chips from Samsung Electronics in 2011 and more than 200 million units this year. The two frenemies have allegedly started to reflect the new supply price recently...

Samsung seen gradually losing Apple chip orders

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 7, 2012

Apple, which up until recently was responsible for nearly nine percent of Samsung's revenue in parts orders, is rumored to be gradually taking its lucrative mobile chip contract away from Samsung, as previously speculated.

A new report out of Asia tells us the South Korean conglomerate is likely to delay construction of a new logic fabrication facility over fear that it will no longer make Apple's in-house designed processors for iPhones, iPads and iPods on an exclusive basis.

If this is true, then Apple has already contracted another founry to produce the chips, most likely Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)...

Apple’s mobile graphics provider Imagination is buying MIPS

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 6, 2012

Imagination Technologies, a British-based mobile graphics provider, will buy MIPS, a Sunnyvale, California-headquartered semiconductor design company. The transaction, apparently worth a cool $60 million in cash, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2013. It reportedly includes 82 patents related to the MIPS processor architecture.

This development is interesting knowing that both Apple and Intel have ownership stakes in Imagination, whose PowerVR graphics technology powers Apple's mobile chips used inside iPhones, iPads and iPods...

Bloomberg: Apple could drop Intel on Macs in 2017

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 5, 2012

When Apple CEO Tim Cook last week fired abrasive iOS chief Scott Forstall, he also appointed the company's un-retired hardware engineering boss Bob Mansfield as the leader of the new Technologies group, which combines all of Apple's wireless and semiconductor teams. And in an email to employees announcing the management changes, Cook hinted that Technologies "have some very ambitious plans". But what could these plans be, apart from designing new processors for iOS devices, which is what Mansfield and his team have been doing for years now?

You're not thinking big enough. How about a transition away from Intel processors across the Mac lineup? But why on Earth engage in such a risky brain transplant? Aren't the chip giant's processors good enough for Macs? If "people familiar with the company’s research" are correct, Apple is secretly (well, not anymore) been seeking ways to one day take the processors it designed in-house for the iOS product family and put them inside Macs...

4th gen iPad’s A6X chip runs quad-core PowerVR SGX 554MP4 graphics

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 24, 2016

Apple introduced the new A6X with the fourth-generation iPad on October 23. It's an improved version of the A6 silicon powering the iPhone 5 by increasing clock frequency for the CPU (1.5GHz) and GPU (500MHz) part in order to achieve Apple's claim of twice the CPU and GPU performance.

Though the A6X still runs two ARM Cortex-A15 cores with a heavily customized, Apple's own ARMv7 based processor design (called Swift), the company has improved graphics performance compared to the A6's three PowerVR-based GPU cores by moving to a newer GPU core: the PowerVR SGX 554 from UK's fabless semiconductor maker Imagination Technologies, where Apple has an ownership stake...

Amazon said to be looking to buy Kindle chip supplier Texas Instruments

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

Online retailer Amazon is considering an acquisition of Texas Instruments, a maker of mobile processors used in a variety of tablets and smartphones. The rumor arrives just as Texas Instruments confirmed it's been struggling to upend its main rivals Nvidia and Qualcomm for orders.

According to Reuters, citing a report by Israeli financial newspaper Calcalist (which last December broke news of Apple's acquisition of Anobit), Amazon is "in advanced talks" to buy Texas Instruments for an undisclosed sum...