Apple to Take A6 Chip Production Away from Samsung

[Maura]

[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Ars Technica reports today that according to sources within the semiconductor industry, Apple’s relationship with Samsung could soon be going from bad to worse, with Apple intending to bestow the contract for the manufacture of its next-generation ARM SoCs, or “A6” chip, on the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) in 2012, rather than Samsung, who are currently responsible for making the iPhone 4’s and original iPad’s A4 processor, and the iPad 2’s (and possibly upcoming iPhone 5) A5 processor. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Ars Technica notes that TSMC was actually rumoured to be making the then purely speculated upon A5 chip at the start of 2011, when the iPad 2 was still just a twinkle in Steve Jobs’ eye, but in the end Samsung got the contract. Clearly though, Apple was already thinking of changing supplier, possibly with a view to the fact that it was intending to sue Samsung for allegedly coping its designs, thus making any future working relationship more than a little awkward, to say the least. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Source: Apple to move ARM SoC production away from Samsung in 2012, via MacRumors[/FONT]