According to the inside information that The Inquirer acquired, the next generation of Apple's SoC will be fabbed by TSMC not Samsung. The A8 will be a 64bit quad-core processor of unknown speed with a GPU described as a four-cluster configuration similar to the PowerVR G6430. This is not terribly surprising considering the abusive relationship that Apple and Samsung have developed over the past few years and will certainly swell TSMC's coffers. Even better TSMC will also pick up the manufacturing other parts of a variety of Apple devices, check the (rumoured) list out here.
"The next generation of Apple's custom system on a chip (SoC) for mobile devices will be manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) rather than Samsung, and so will several other chips to be used in the forthcoming iPhone 6, a report has claimed."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Microsoft will issue the penultimate patch for Windows XP in March Patch Tuesday @ The Inquirer
- Want April's Windows 8.1 Update? Leaked links let you grab it NOW @ The Register
- Cisco patches enterprise wireless vulns @ The Register
- SOAP: The Home Automation Router And Kickstarter Scam @ Hack a Day
There is a rumour going on
There is a rumour going on that TSMC is having low yields with the production of Apple SOC’s.
http://nl.hardware.info/nieuws/39133/yields-van-nieuwe-apple-a8-chip-vallen-tegen
It’s written in Dutch, but what the article basically says is that, the yield is around 50% of it’s production but it’s worth mentioning that this is fairly good given the fact the 20nm process of mass production has just started a couple of months ago.
no matter who you rooted for
no matter who you rooted for in the samsung/apple patent war the fact that part manufacture has finally moved out of samsung hands is probably a good thing.
of course that means a LOT of apple (oops i mean samsung) parts are now at a minumim licensed to be made (probably bought outright) by apple. but still it is better.
it does mean though that apple’s r&D team now needs to work on all chips now instead of just the main one.but hey – that is what it means to run with the big boys in IC Chips.
As far as I Know, the Apple
As far as I Know, the Apple A7 is a totally designed by Apple(Apple bought P.A. simi in 2008) (see the Wikipedia article on P.A. simi). Apple only had Samsung Foundrys as fab for their custom designed A7 CPU/SOC, and this Apple designed A7 cyclone core is based on a wider superscalar design than the ARM holdings refrence designs. The A7 was designed in house by Apple using the IP and brainpower from the Palo Alto Semiconductor acquisition, and the founder of P.A. simi was the led designer DEC Alpha 21064 and StrongARM processors (see wikipedia citation). Remember that that the Apple A7 only executes the ARMv8 ISA, so it is more a P.A. Simi(owned by Apple) design, and this Apple custom CPU beat even ARM holdings’ 64 bit refrence designs to the market. The only thing ARM in this Apple CPU, is the ability to run the ARMv8 ISA(Instruction Set Architecture), so Apple bought some big boy brain power back in 2008, and never needed Samsung for anything other than what Apple needs from TSMC, a foundry! See Anand’s review of the A7, to learn more about the A7, and be sure to read Anands multipart article on ARM Holdings’ and its business model. Apple has more money than chipzilla, and they have been buying up chip design companies and IP for a few years now, and I would not be suprised in the least, if Apple does not get their hands on IBMs foundry business.