Report: TSMC to Receive All Orders for iPhone Processors

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TSMC will reportedly be contracted to manufacture all of the application processors required for the upcoming iPhone and has ambitiously expanded its fabrication facilities to meet this demand.

According to “industry sources,” Apple is planning to contract the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to manufacture all the application processors (AP) for the 2014 model of the iPhone that will reportedly be launched as early as 2H 2013.

Presumably to satisfy the “huge demand” from Apple, TSMC has begun the equipment move-in for its capable Fab 14, Phase 5 facility in Southern Taiwan. The Phase 5 facility is TSMC’s second 20 nm fabrication plant and will be ready for volume production by the end of this year.

DigiTimes’ sources further added that ,while Samsung will manufacture chips for the upcoming iPhone, the rapid expansion of TSMC’s manufacturing capabilities (the company broke ground for the Phase 5 facility in April 2012) indicates that Apple is significantly accelerating its plans to reduce its dependence on Samsung.

Tarun Iyer
Contributor

Tarun Iyer was a contributor for Tom's Hardware who wrote news covering a wide range of technology topics, including processors, graphics cards, cooling systems, and computer peripherals. He also covered tech trends such as the development of adaptive all-in-one PCs.