Apple manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is set to begin volume production of Apple’s next-gen A11 chips next month, with the goal of producing 50 million chips before July.
The chips will be used for the next-gen iPhones, which are likely to make their debut in September. The A11 chips will reportedly be built using a 10 nanometer FinFET process.
This isn’t the first time TSMC will carry out volume production using the 10 nm process; last year it used it for volume production of chips for MediaTek and HiSilicon Technologies. Apple’s orders are likely to be the batch order TSMC will receive, however — with TSMC expected to produce 100 million A11 chips by the end of 2017.
TSMC notably scored the exclusive contract to produce all of Apple’s A11 chips for the 2017-era iPhone refresh. In a break from its recent strategy, Apple placed all its orders with one supplier; leaving Samsung out in the cold.
In the past, the competition between TSMC and Samsung has even wound up in court, as a former TSMC employee was charged with leaking trade secrets to Samsung to allegedly give the latter a competitive edge.
We hope TSMC’s up to the job!
Source: Digitimes
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
