Trial production, for those who do not know, is a process by which a computer hardware (or mobile hardware) manufacturer makes initial batches of their hardware to test the production process and quality of the devices as well as the functionality. This is done so that no surprises come up when mass production starts. Samsung has been the company that Apple has used for production of Apple's A5 chips but that may be about to change, at least partially, according to Reuters. Samsung and Apple have been involved in ongoing lawsuits with each other, and this may be causing great tension between the two companies. According to reports, Apple may use the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for production of the next generation Apple A6 processor. In fact, TSMC has started trial production of the processor.
Fubon Securities analyst William Wang says that the issue is not whether Apple will use TSMC, but rather how much the company has been allocated to produce. He says that, "Apple won't give the whole 100 percent to TSMC. Maybe it'll allocate only 20-30 percent."
TSMC will not comment, nor will Apple or Samsung. However TSMC does have experience working with the ARM processor architecture and Apple's chips are based off this design. TSMC has allocated over seven billion dollars to update their technology and add fabrication capacity to their facilities.. It makes one think they are expecting a lot of revenue soon.
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