Could Apple change its chip supplier?
Rumours that Apple may be shifting from Samsung Electronics, its traditional chip supplier, to TSMC are circulating following a report by Reuters citing 'a source with knowledge on the matter'.
According to the source, TSMC, the world's largest contract chip maker, has begun trial manufacturing next generation chips for Apple's mobile devices.
Samsung is the sole supplier of the A5 chips used in the iPad2 but the company is currently in a legal dispute with Apple over patents and is also producing rival smartphones and tablets. However, if Apple were to shift to TSMC, it would have to redesign the chipset, in which Samsung was involved from the beginning and has some intellectual property – and pressure would increase from Samsung to retain the business.
This year, Apple has budgeted $7.8billion to invest in updated technology and added capacity.
