Apple And Samsung Seemingly BFFs Whether They Like It Or Not

Looks like Apple and Samsung are destined to be BFFs — “Best Frenemies Forever” in this context — whether they like it or not. The Korea Times’ Kim Yoo-chul reports that according to unnamed sources, Apple and erstwhile litigation sparring partner Samsung Electronics have a new agreement in which Samsung will be the main supplier of application processors (APs or Systems on Chip -SoC) for iPhones and iPads beginning next year.

Yoo-chul says the agreement means Samsung will become the primary supplier of these APs to Apple, pushing its Taiwanese chief rival TSMC back to second place, and that from 2016, Samsung will supply 80 percent of APs used in Apple devices, and TSMC the remainder.

Under the terms of the deal, said to be worth “billions of dollars,”Apple will design the A-series SoCs, and Samsung will fabricate them in partnership with GlobalFoundries (GF), a semiconductor manufacturer headquartered in Santa Clara, California,

The value of the deal is said to be worth “billions of dollars,” according to the Korea Times’ sources, with production to start in December or early next year at Samsung’s factory in Giheung, Gyeonggi Province, Korea, with some production moving to Samsung’s Austin, Texas facilities in Austin, Texas and a GF-owned factory in New York as volumes ramp up.

Samsung’s rapproachment with Apple comes just a month after the two companies agreed to drop all patent litigation outside the United States.

Yoo-chul notes that Samsung has made a smoother transition to manufacturing customized chips than TSMC thanks to its a finer 14-nanometer FinFET processing technology, and that the collaboration with GF lowered costs. TSMC is producing chips using 16-nnometer FinFET technology, and he says Samsung’s technology is better in terms of efficiency and energy consumption.

For the full report, visit here:
http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/phone/news/view.jsp?req_newsidx=168259

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