Apple Stock News: TSMC tend to be sole supplier for A11/A12 chips

Apple Stock News

For the latest Apple Stock News, AAPL closed at $149.50 per share on, July 28th, 2017. It generated a loss of 1.06% from its previous close on July 27st, 2017, when it closed at $150.56 per share.

Apple stock news

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is going to secure orders for the A12 processor, a 7-nanometer chip that will be produced for use in the 2018 iPhone generation. While reports earlier suggested Samsung had secured a deal to make the processors, it could be just rumours.

Wafer-level chip packaging created by TSMC will make the firm’s 7-nanometer FinFET technology more competitive than Samsung’s equivalent. The technology innovation will apparently cut Samsung’s chances of regaining application processor orders.

TSMC has reportedly begun mass production of 10nm chips in the third quarter by fulfilling orders for Apple’s A11 chips. TSMC still going to be the sole supplier of A11 chips for the upcoming iPhone refresh, which sales might start in October or November.

The schedule for production and delivery is about the same as for the iPhone 7. The company is going to deliver 100 million A11 chips before the end of 2017. It is slightly ahead of what was delivered by the end of 2017 for the A10 Fusion. The iPhone 7 family utilizes the A10 Fusion quad-core system on a 16nm chip.

While it is possible for Samsung to take on some of the orders for the A12 chip, it is unlikely for Apple to completely switch away from TSMC. Apple can split the order between the two firms while they embark on using the new 7-nanometer process. Apple has used both TSMC and Samsung as processor suppliers, with the A9 used in the iPhone 6s produced by both companies, but since then, Apple has solely used TSMC for its A-series chips.

A switch to a smaller chip size, such as the move from a 10-nanometer to a 7-nanometer process, typically introduces a number of benefits. Aside from a speed boost, this can also make the processors more power efficient than previous generations, in turn increasing battery life.

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