Apple Planning to Make A6 Processor at TSMC
Apple changing fabs?
Despite being tangled in a rather tense legal battle right now, Apple and Samsung are still partners in the chip manufacturing business. Apple orders a huge amount of A4 and A5 chips for iPhone, iPod and iPad products, and Samsung builds them.
It may seen rather odd that Samsung is lending a hand to Apple, a big competitor in the personal device space, but the South Korean company is still pocketing some money regardless whether a customer buys an iPad 2 or Galaxy Tab 10.1.
The word in the industry right now is that Apple is seeking another manufacturing partner for the next-generation ARM chip that's believed to be called the A6. Reuters reports that Taiwan's massive TSMC, which has likely made at least one of the chips inside your gaming desktop, is currently in trial production of the A6 for Apple.
If the yields come back to Apple's satisfaction, then Samsung may no longer be privy to Apple's CPU. Of course, analysts predict that Samsung will do everything in its power to extend its contract with Apple – perhaps by entering into a bidding war against TSMC.

Only Apple been trying to sue everybodys' asses off: HTC, Samsung, etc.
No one's ever going to argue with you that shipping business overseas won't be cheaper. Don't have to start generalizing political parties and accuse them of ruining our economy.
Right, no one needs to generalize about it, there are plenty of specific examples of how the political party wars have ruined our economy.
Yeah. We've got to stop people in power from appointing our senators and congresspeople. Oh, wait a minute, I think they are there by popular vote..
Of course, whether Samsung really copied Apple is up for debate, however the bottom line isn't. Apple thinks they did and is acting accordingly, costing Samsung billions in sales and giving those billions to a competitor.
Just because they got voted in by the public does not mean they are intelligent, capable or have your best interests at heart.
The public don't vote for the CEO of Apple, IBM or Microsoft, is there anything more American than those 3 companies?
Please note that quality products that last a long time, with excellent warranty and service also come from China, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, etc etc etc.
Apart from being "Made in the USA" what other factors come into play?
We have now discounted quality, service and price - what is left?
The problem is as soon as you start to say "Forget price, just buy American", you are already being slightly Communist, you really can't have it both ways.
If your country runs on a market economy, as soon as you hit the international scene they all do the same so you have to compete on a level playing field. Typical American workers demand a higher standard of living, higher pay, longer holidays, bigger pensions, cheap food, cheap gas, instant credit, dry cleaning, a hooker on speed dial and the god-given right to rule the world.
Face it, there is someone a few thousand miles away that is prepared to take a few percent less than you to get the business in a totally cut-throat global market economy. Either compete or die.
Greed is what keeps manufacturing overseas. Business owners and executives are greedy and care only for themselves. On the other hand, workers who believe that menial labor somehow constitutes the right to exceptional wages and protections are out of their minds as well. WELCOME TO CAPITALISM AT IT'S BEST. The hard thing to weigh is this. If you want a fair and even distribution of wealth, go to a different country. If you want the opportunity to make yourself one of the powerful and elite: come to America. Don't blame bipartisanism and American democracy. Politicians are cut from the same cloth as the Elite business owners who care only for their own wealth and status.
It is human to strive to be better, It is American to strive to have more than anyone else. get over it.
Never mind, your better off overseas.
What do you mean we can't have semiconductor plants in the US? We have plenty here in the US.
http://www.10stripe.com/featured/map/semiconductor-fabs.php
Typical tea party Republican. Spewing hate for the Democrats with a load of BS to back it up. I do not associate myself with a party because doing so is moronic as I'm an American not a Democrat or Republican.
here's a funny thing, how many good semiconductor fabs do you think is out there they can make the A6 package with decent enough yields, why do you think Apple had to go to Samsung in the first place. TSMC is so damn good that AMD and nVidia is still singing their praise after the 32nm transition, but then again ive been told that the iPad/iPhone is magically and could probably work without a CPU anyways