Posted on Monday, December 15 2014 @ 16:11 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
EE Times
reports Samsung is rumored to have begun manufacturing of Apple's new A9 SoC on a 14nm FinFET process. Apple switched to TSMC's 20nm process to make its A8 SoC but it seems the company has now adopted a multi-foundry strategy to give it additional options and flexibility.
The will-they-won’t-they dance between Apple and TSMC was a long-running tech story years before it became shipping reality. After reported test runs on 28nm and a long negotiation process, TSMC finally won Apple’s business for its brand-new 20nm node. This lock, however, appears to be short-lived — Apple and Samsung are reportedly planning a launch on Samsung’s 14nm technology later this year.
A new report from Korea IT states that Samsung began manufacturing on Apple’s new A9 SoC yesterday, which would fit an introduction timeline for later next year. Samsung had previously given guidance that it expected to begin 14nm production in the near future, but hadn’t specified whether or not it would win back Apple’s business.
