Apple is reportedly making a significant move to further reduce its reliance with bitter rival Samsung by moving production of the A6X processor away from the South-Korean based company. Speculation has been rife over the last few months surrounding a possible shift in manufacturing partnerships, with suggestions being made that Apple has the end-goal in sight of removing all of their business away from Samsung for obvious reasons.
Reports from Taiwan are stating that the Cupertino based company is set to hand the manufacturing contract for the A6X chips to TSMC. We saw significant signs in the latter months of 2012 which indicate that the professional relationship between Apple and Samsung is coming to an organic end, and the move to allow the world’s largest semiconductor producers to get involved in the A6X processor production definitely shows their intent.
The rumors is also suggesting that the new partnership will see the two companies running through a trial production process during the first quarter of this year. If everything goes to plan, then we could see the relationship blossom, with speculation suggesting that Apple could be interested in buying into TMSC’s quad-core manufacturing processors for devices like the iPad and their actual physical TV set if it ever comes to fruition.
In all honesty, the decision to try and move business away from Samsung shouldn’t really come as any great surprise to those looking in from the outside. Apple and Samsung have been involved in an exceptionally complicated legal wrangle over various alleged patent infringements that has spanned across multiple continents and resulted in both companies being heavily reprimanded. Although Samsung is set up to provide their display and processor services through different arms of the brand, it still must be difficult to have that much reliance on a company that you continue to be in a legal spat with.
Regardless of the immediate direction which Apple takes with the manufacturing of their processors, rumors are still strong regarding the potential for Apple to begin producing their own SoC’s in the future rather than having any kind of reliance on external entities to be able to keep up with their own demands.
(via 9To5Mac)
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