TSMC reportedly beats Samsung again, securing Apple A13 chip orders for 2019 iPhones
The world’s largest chipmaker, which just so happens to be the global leader of the smartphone market as well, was rumored a few months ago to take charge of Apple A13 production for use on 2019 iPhones.
But even though this year’s A12-powered iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR have barely seen daylight a couple of weeks back, with the lower-cost variant yet to actually go on sale, Apple may have already decided to stick with TSMC for its next big mobile SoC.
The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company would thus be able to consolidate its domination over the global pure-play foundry market after being chosen as the exclusive manufacturer of Apple’s A12, A11, and A10 processors these past few years.
Previously, TSMC shared A9 orders with Samsung, which was in turn solely responsible for the making of the Apple-designed A7, A6, A5, and A4 chips.
In addition to the Cupertino-based leader of worldwide smartphone profits, TSMC is expected to score contracts from AMD, Huawei, MediaTek, NVIDIA, and even Qualcomm thanks to the superiority of the company’s 7nm process technology over Samsung’s own next-gen node for high-power, high-efficiency flagship mobile devices.
The Snapdragon 845, 835, 821, and 820 were all made by Samsung, while TSMC last handled the production of a high-end Qualcomm SoC back in 2014 for the Snapdragon 808 and 810.
Since the 7nm-based Apple A12 Bionic chip already makes the iPhone XS and XS Max blazing fast, as well as reasonably frugal, the sky is the limit in terms of expectations for next year’s no doubt refined 7nm-based A13 silicon.
But even though this year’s A12-powered iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR have barely seen daylight a couple of weeks back, with the lower-cost variant yet to actually go on sale, Apple may have already decided to stick with TSMC for its next big mobile SoC.
Previously, TSMC shared A9 orders with Samsung, which was in turn solely responsible for the making of the Apple-designed A7, A6, A5, and A4 chips.
In addition to the Cupertino-based leader of worldwide smartphone profits, TSMC is expected to score contracts from AMD, Huawei, MediaTek, NVIDIA, and even Qualcomm thanks to the superiority of the company’s 7nm process technology over Samsung’s own next-gen node for high-power, high-efficiency flagship mobile devices.
Interestingly, unnamed “supply chain sources” quoted by Digitimes today still claim Samsung has been able to secure orders from Qualcomm as well, possibly suggesting the Snapdragon 8150 will have two architects instead of one.
The Snapdragon 845, 835, 821, and 820 were all made by Samsung, while TSMC last handled the production of a high-end Qualcomm SoC back in 2014 for the Snapdragon 808 and 810.
Samsung will obviously continue manufacturing its own Exynos chips from the ground up, which may not stop TSMC’s rise from a 56 percent share in the independent semiconductor foundry business during the first half of 2018 to over 60 percent next year.
source: Digitimes
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