Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company takes over SoC manufacturing

Jan 3, 2013 14:04 GMT  ·  By

Taiwan’s Commercial Times reports that TSMC has replaced Samsung as the manufacturer of Apple’s A6X chip, the latest generation of application processors or system-on-a-chip (SoC) for iPads and iPhones.

Trial production has already been set for the first quarter of this year, according to Taiwan’s news agency. Apple has been trying to shake off its reliance on Samsung’s chip fabs for quite some time now.

The news isn’t confirmed, of course, and Apple rarely comments on the contracts it signs with the sea of part suppliers and assemblers whose work goes into making the elusive iPhones and iPads that Apple sells.

The A-series chip is a vital component that currently powers only a single line of iDevices – the fourth-generation iPad with Retina display. However, the same powerful chip could make its way into the next version of the iPhone, or a new version of the iPad mini.