Taking into consideration that Samsung of South Korea is breathing down TSMC’s back, the latter has stepped up plans to roll out 50,000 wafers each month that will make use of its 16nm process, and this is tipped to happen during the entire first quarter of next year. The 16nm process were meant to actually be produced from the second quarter of 2015, and will see action in the Apple A9’s production, but I guess there is nothing quite like a little bit of business rivalry to really get a company crackin’.
The Apple A9 is touted to be the SoC which will be utilized on the upcoming iPhone and iPad that will roll out next year, or so this is what most folks would be inclined to think. While Apple has been tipped to be the biggest customer for TSMC, things might not remain that way for a long time. According to KGI Securities analyst Michael Liu, he mentioned told his clients that Samsung take over from TSMC in the second half of next year by rolling out chips manufactured using the 14nm process.
Sounds like it is a case of bouncing back and forth here, and TSMC CEO Morris Chang threw the “lead” wide open by touting that TSMC will be back in action with Apple’s orders in 2016. End users should not be too concerned with all this, as the chips will be produced according to Apple’s specifications.