Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) may be ready to cut their ties with Samsung. Appadvice.com cited reports from a Taiwanese newspaper that the Cupertino based company now wants Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company to create its next line of processors.
The report via Appadvice.com reads:
TSMC is expected to start producing the A6X processors, which will be of the 28 nm type rather than the 32 nm type from Samsung, in the first quarter of 2013. This is earlier than what had been forecast by industry officials, who predicted that Apple would switch from Samsung to TSMC in the second half of the year. TSMC’s A6X yield is expected to be mounted on the fifth-generation iPad and the second-generation iPad mini, which are rumored to be released early this year.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung have a bad history together, which makes this report come as no surprise. Both companies have been duking it out in court over patent rights and not surprisingly, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been making the win. Last summer in a California court, the iPad maker won over $1 billion in damages from Samsung, although they didn’t place the ban on Samsung products in the United States like they originally wanted.
AppleInsider added that there is not yet a clear date to expect TSMC’s new chips on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) devices, but it could take as long as 18 months.
Last month, there was also a rumor titled “Project Azalea” in which four states were competing to get an unnamed chip fabrication plant. The states in question were California, New York, Texas, and Oregon. It’s highly speculated that the unnamed company behind “Project Azalea” is the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Although there is no way to tell as the four aforementioned states signed a non-disclosure agreement.
