AppleInsider Staff
Apple will reportedly turn to longtime supplier and sometimes-rival Samsung to fabricate the application processor for the forthcoming Apple Watch, while Taiwan's Advanced Semiconductor Engineering is said to have been chosen to package the new device's S1 processing module.
Samsung will manufacture the chip on its 28-nanometer fabrication process, according to DigiTimes. Apple is believed to have ordered up to 4,000 12-inch wafers per month.
The application processor is just one piece of Apple's S1, which employs a system-in-package, or SiP, design. This allows the company to incorporate a number of disparate chips into a single package, making the resulting component smaller and lighter while reducing power consumption.
Alongside the application processor, Apple's S1 package will include mobile DRAM, NAND flash for storage, and circuitry to control functions like wireless connectivity and touch input. It remains unclear which firms have been chosen as the source for these secondary components.
Taiwan-based Advanced Semiconductor Engineering — one of the world's largest semiconductor packaging firms — Â will be responsible for packaging and module assembly.
As per usual, Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company are said to be vying for the right to produce a second-generation "S2" module. The two firms have long fought each other for Apple's business, with TSMC winning its first production order for A-series chips last year.
Malcolm Owen
Oliver Haslam
Andrew O'Hara
Wesley Hilliard
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
38 Comments
28nm? It seems like this is where you'd want 14nm...
"Tapped to build"? That's idiotic. It's already built.
Like many others here at AI (and other tech rumor sites), you don't seem to realize that words can have multiple definitions. In this case, clearly the author is using the word "build" as "assemble."
I suggest you spend a little more time reading, with a good dictionary and thesaurus by your side. And don't forget to read for context. It's an essential skill in reading comprehension.
Good luck.
The next rumor should hit next week saying TSMC actually won the S1 not Samsung. AI will state the new rumor is questionable. For the past four/five quarters Samsung has announced declining revenue and profit. To lessen the blow, a rumor comes along claiming Samsung won an Apple manufacturing job. AI publishes the rumor without questioning anything. When the TSMC rumor surfaces, AI questions the truth of the new rumor. It seems like AI WANTS or NEEDS for the Samsung rumor to be true and the TSMC rumor to be false. Why?
Because AI thinks it's a more "controversial" story when Apple is pitted directly against Samsung who is a direct competitor in the smartphone market segment. TSMC doesn't compete with Apple at all in terms of shipping product lines.
AI -- like many tech rumor sites -- likes to play up this Apple-Samsung competition.
There, I've spelled out what one would think would be fairly obvious. I hope this clarifies matters for you.