14 DAY TRIAL // Apple seems to have settled on Samsung for manufacturing the bulk of A9 processors destined to power the upcoming iPhone 6S. Industry sources in Taiwan say the Korean chip maker and Globalfoundries jointly grabbed as much as 70% of the A9 chip production, leaving the remainder (30%) to TSMC.
As expected, “Samsung Electronics and Globalfoundries have secured a combined 70% of orders for Apple's A9 processors with their 14nm FinFET technology,” according to industry sources cited by DigiTimes.
Samsung will produce its share of A9 SoCs in South Korea, while Globalfoundries – under Samsung’s watch – will churn out the chips in Santa Clara, California. The 14 nanometer process was developed by Samsung who licensed it to Globalfoundries.
40,000 wafers per month
The sources indicated that Samsung is expected to yield between 30,000 and 40,000 12-inch wafers per month on a 14nm process node, the same technology used for building its own next-gen Exynos chip.
Globalfoundries will merely act as a backup supplier if Samsung incurs manufacturing hurdles, or if demand for the new iPhone is higher than expected. The California-based fab has a production capacity estimated at 20,000-30,000 wafers monthly.
TSMC takes the scraps
The remainder of the chip orders will be going to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). That’s not to say we feel sorry for the Taiwanese foundry, as it still has manufacturing rights to the A8 chips for the current-selling iPhone 6 lineup. In fact, at the moment TSMC is probably making more money than Samsung off Apple orders.
iPhone 6S should debut in the September-October timeframe, if Apple sticks to tradition. However, some have speculated that the California tech juggernaut might want to release its next iPhone much earlier this year.