Samsung Electronics recently scored a major design win when Apple Computer selected its new MP3 media processor over one from PortalPlayer to power its next-generation of iPod digital music players. Samsung executives made the announcement while speaking at the SEMI Strategic Business conference on Wednesday.
Last week PortalPlayer announced that Apple had decided not to use the its next-generation media chips in its upcoming iPod music players. In response, PortalPlayer's stock bled 45 percent of its value in two days.
\"I knew PortalPlayer would take a dive,\" said Jon Kang, senior vice president for the technical marketing group at Samsung Semiconductor Inc. \"I knew that we would win this design.\"
Kang referred to the company’s chip as the \"PortalPlayer killer.\" It's said to be based on 32-bit processor technology from ARM Holdings.
In a brief interview after the presentation, the Samsung exec said the design win represents the company's largest LSI chip order to date. “We’ve been working with Apple a long time,†he said. “It’s a huge win for us.â€
He added that Samsung also supplies the \"majority\" of NAND flash to Apple’s iPod.