A Taiwanese electronics trade publication is reporting that Apple is making a move that would change the main supplier of the base ARM chips that go inside its Ax line of processors. Currently, these base chips have been supplied by Samsung to Apple through their chip manufacturing unit called SemCo. Apple is reportedly planning to shift loyalties to Taipei-based Unimicron Technology Corporation which makes similar chips.
If this indeed turns out to be true, it would be widely seen as a move to distance the company’s reliance on Samsung chips for their products. As you might be already aware, Samsung and Apple are battling it out in courts across the globe with lawsuits filed against each other – blaming the other to have infringed upon various patents. With such animosity around, the relationship between these two companies have been on a downward spiral since the past few years.
As for Unimicron, the company seems to be a huge beneficiary of this Apple vs Samsung saga. It was not long ago that Unimicron had also won a contract for supplying the “chip scale package” or basic ARM foundation for Apple’s processor line. The company has also said that it will increase its production capacity once their under construction production facility is up and running.
In related news, there have also been reports that some production of Apple’sAx chips would also be handled by another Taiwanese company – TSMC. As of now, most Ax processors are fabricated in the US – by Samsung at its facility in Texas.