14 DAY TRIAL // As Apple is moving its chip orders to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Samsung is left struggling to find new partners to keep its profits high, according to industry sources.
Taiwan’s DigiTimes has it on file from people in the chip business that Samsung is actively seeking orders from the likes of Amazon, Sony, and Nvidia to fill the void left by Apple, which moved its A-series chip production over to TSMC.
Starting next year, the A-series applications processor powering iPhones and iPads will be produced by the Taiwanese foundry, amid several legal disputes and increased competition between Apple and Samsung in the mobile space.
The A7 chip destined for Apple's iPhone 6 is likely to be the first version of the SoC (system on a chip) produced by TSMC. A potential A7X chip could be made in tandem for the iPad 5 by the same foundry.
In order to produce the chips, TSMC is said to have been forced to adopt “costly technologies.”
The interesting bit is that, according to the same industry sources, “[Samsung] could implement measures such as offering lower prices [and] as a result, a price war among contract chipmakers will likely break out, the sources noted,” the report says.