TSMC to start building Apple’s A6 chips?

A new rumor has sprung up and this one is about Apple and their A6 chip. It seems that the rumors are indicating that Apple is currently experimenting with plans to make their A6 chip through TSMC. While Apple has traditionally gone to Samsung for the manufacturing of their chips, the recent legal battles may force Apple to start reducing their dependence on the Korean company.

Not much is known about the A6 chip although some are speculating that it might be of the quad-core variety, which seems to make sense, especially with NVidia’s Tegra-3 “Kal-El” SOC looking to be present in future Android devices. However while TSMC may be one of the strongest independent chip manufacturers, they definitely do not have the capacity to churn out chips on the level that Samsung will be able to achieve.

However the rumors have also said that TSMC has already received the authorization and details, and it’s just a matter of Apple placing a formal order, which will depend on whether the company will be able to produce a high enough yield.

For iPhone 5 hopefuls, it’s highly unlikely we will be seeing the next generation iPhone feature a quad-core processor, although in the iPhone 6? Who knows what the future holds.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Cellphones, Rumors
Tags: Apple Inc, quad core, Samsung, Tegra 3, TSMC