Apple is finally ending its relationship with Samsung Semiconductor, according to a report in The Korea Times. For years Apple’s devices have used mobile processors made by Samsung, and some say the expertise Samsung gained while making chips for Apple helped it create the chips for its own top-selling smartphones. Now that those phones are outselling Apple’s, the Cupertino giant is talking to other chip suppliers.
Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) will reportedly be Apple’s supplier for its next-generation A7 chip. Apple is said to be talking to TSMC about a die shrink to 20 nanometers; its current A6X chip made by Samsung uses a 32-nanometer process. Die shrinks cut chip prices and reduce power consumption because with a smaller die each transistor needs less power when it switches on.
Apple’s contract with Samsung does not end until next year. Apple will buy an estimated 200 million mobile application processors from Samsung this year. Late last year, Samsung reportedly decided to increase the price it charges Apple by 20%, perhaps anticipating an end to the relationship and hoping to get as much as possible from Apple before the contract ends.
Samsung is in the process of upgrading the Austin, Texas manufacturing facility that produces Apple’s chips. Samsung is investing up to $4 billion dollars to shift production in Austin from memory chips to mobile processors.
The Korea Times says that Samsung will look to Nvidia to replace the business it is losing from Apple. Nvidia recently launched its Tegra 4 processor, calling it “the world’s fastest mobile processor.” TSMC manufactures the Tegra 4.
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