Intel has been in discussions to produce Apple chips, reports Reuters


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Intel has been in discussions to produce Apple chips, reports Reuters

The seemingly unthinkable scenario of Intel manufacturing ARM chips may be closer than we think, following a report by Reuters of negotiations between Intel and Apple. A source close to one of the companies has revealed that executives have met over the previous year to discuss a contract manufacturing arrangement ? whereby Intel's foundries would be used to produce chips to Apple's specification ? but that no agreement had yet been reached.

It's well known that Apple would love to extricate itself from the uncomfortable relationship of dependency it currently has with Samsung ? the Korean chipmaker builds the A series of processors found in the iPhone and iPad and retains a stranglehold on Apple's business because of its unequaled volume production capabilities. Intel is just the right sort of large-scale competitor, equipped with advanced fabrication technology, that can unseat Samsung and provide Apple with the manufacturing diversification it needs.

But why would Intel be interested in such an agreement? From the Santa Clara perspective, a foundry deal with Apple would certainly be stimulative to profits in the immediate term, but it'd also undermine its own efforts to push Atom and the rest of its x86 processor line into mobile devices. At the same time, it was only last month that the chipmaker agreed to produce chips for Altera with its upcoming 14nm fab process, so there's clearly an interest within the company to expand its foundry operations. Whether this mooted partnership with Apple does come to fruition may well be a decision left to Intel's new CEO, whose identity should soon to be known, given that current leader Paul Otellini plans to retire in May.

Source: The Verge

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Intel producing ARM? WTF? So Intel is gonna shoot into they own foot by producing the competition chips instead of pushing their own? Makes no sense, unless the discussion is not about ARM in but x86 in iPads, iPhones and such, so that the interoperability between OSX and iOS can be better.

Probably similar to Sun Chips.

:laugh:

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Makes no sense, unless the discussion is not about ARM in but x86 in iPads, iPhones and such, so that the interoperability between OSX and iOS can be better.

Why? Just use the .NET Fra... oh, right :p

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Intel producing ARM? WTF? So Intel is gonna shoot into they own foot by producing the competition chips instead of pushing their own? Makes no sense, unless the discussion is not about ARM in but x86 in iPads, iPhones and such, so that the interoperability between OSX and iOS can be better.

Intel is pushing atom over ARM because it's an equivilent general unspecific processor like the standard ARM design.

If a company comes to you and offers to pay you copious amounts of money to produce something (even if it is a competing design), you would be a complete fool to say no, if you said no, they'd just get it made at another foundry and another company would make the profit.

ARM doesn't make money from each CPU produced or sold, ARM licenses it's CPU baseline design to companies that change it and match it to their specifications and can then go and produce it.

I really cannot think why anyone would think this is a bad idea, it's not like any of the CPUs produced for apple would be on the open market available to anyone wanting an ARM CPU because as I said, they're matched to a specific design which wouldn't be suitable for many other things.

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I really cannot think why anyone would think this is a bad idea, it's not like any of the CPUs produced for apple would be on the open market available to anyone wanting an ARM CPU because as I said, they're matched to a specific design which wouldn't be suitable for many other things.

The problem here is that Intel instead of promoting their own chips (and if successful on the long run every mobile device could be using one, making a ton of money like Samsung does) are producing a competing chip, that on the short run is great but all the money spend on investigation / production / promotion of Atom are going to waste.

Unless that Intel realized that Atom in mobile world is a dead horse and it's no good business to keep pushing it.

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