Semiconductors

Intel relents, will make third-party ARM mobile chips in 2014

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 30, 2013

In a surprise announcement that sent shockwaves throughout the technology industry, Intel said it will open kimono to arch-rival TSMC and begin making chips for third-parties, based on CPU blueprints from the British fabless semiconductor maker ARM Holdings, plc. Apple is among the licensees of ARM's technology for its own in-house chips which serve as the engine powering the iPhone, iPad and iPod devices.

This is a huge development. Not only will Intel, the world’s largest semiconductor company, now fabricate its own ARM-based 64-bit mobile chips starting next year, it will now undoubtedly compete for the lucrative Apple business, especially given the iPhone maker has long been looking to take its chip-making contract elsewhere...

New M7 details reveal outstanding power efficiency

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 30, 2013

Apple has made quite a noise about its brand new chip, the M7 motion coprocessor designed to offload taking sensor measurements from the iPhone 5s's main A7 processor. Because the M7 requires at least one-sixth of the power versus the 64-bit A7 chip, it can log data from the accelerometer, gyroscope and compass sensors independently of the A7 package, thus allowing for substantial power savings.

The details of how this data is captured and what power savings developers can count on were kept to Apple's chest until the Argus app made headlines as the first fitness software optimized for the M7 silicon. Here are a few previously unknown details about Apple's motion coprocessor hardware...

TSMC could account for bulk of A8 production

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 30, 2013

The sometimes-reliable Taiwanese publication, DigiTimes, has been saying for years that Apple was shifting its chip manufacture away from Samsung and towards its rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).

In its new report Monday, the trade publication now claims that TSMC will be responsible for the bulk of orders for Apple's next-generation processor, the A8 chip, with Samsung taking care of about one-third of orders...

Inside Apple’s A7: dual-core CPU, quad-core GPU, Secure Enclave has 3MB SRAM

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 26, 2016

Following their initial analysis of the iPhone 5s's innards, silicon experts at Chipworks have now taken a closer look at the handset's 64-bit A7 processor to reveal a number of interesting tidbits in their initial low-level chip analysis. Based on transistor-level images of the Apple-designed, Samsung-built package, Chipworks was able to determine that the A7 consists of a dual-core processing core and quad-core graphics, tentatively identified as the four cluster version of Imagination Technologies’s PowerVR Series 6, the G6430.

Apple, along with Intel, is of course an investor with a ten percent stake in Imagination Technologies, the UK-based fabless semiconductor maker. Chipworks also focused on a portion of the A7 chip called Secure Enclave where Apple says fingerprint profile is stored securely and walled off from the entire system, except the Touch ID circuitry...

Rumor: iPhone 5S’s A7 chip is 31% faster, has separate motion tracking core

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

According to sources who spoke with an anchor for Fox News Channel, the A7 chip expected to power Apple's iPhone 5S is "very fast," nearly a third faster than the A6 silicon ticking inside the current-generation iPhone 5. That's only half the story as the reporter has also heard there’s a separate chip inside the device devoted to motion tracking.

Oh, and a prominent blogger has independently heard claims that some of the internal iPhone 5S prototypes include a 64-bit flavor of the A7 chip. He's also learned a couple interesting tidbits concerning the rumored fingerprint sensor, the way it works and how it could lend itself to mobile payments integration...

Micron buys Apple’s memory supplier Elpida

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Micron Technology on Thursday informed investors it has completed its $2 billion acquisition of Elpida Memory, the third-largest maker of dynamic random access memory chips (DRAM) and an important Apple supplier. The rumored move was expected given Elpida's been struggling for some time amid heightening competition with SK Hynix and Samsung.

The struggling Japanese chip maker last summer filed for bankruptcy and has since been in talks to sell its business to U.S.-based Micron Technology Corp. Apple placed a huge order with Elpida ahead of the iPhone 5 production, indicating desire to maintain its bargaining power by keeping the memory maker running.

Elpida's memory products power Apple's latest iPhones and iPads and are also found inside Google's Nexus 7 and other non-Apple gadgets...

Chip-making venture could cost Apple $7 billion

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 15, 2013

A story published this past weekend by a website called SemiAccurate has renewed speculation of Apple's supposed interest in producing the engine for iDevices at a plant of its own, as opposed to simply designing silicon blueprints in-house and commissioning others to build the chips, as has been the case since 2010.

So if Apple really bought into a fab, as the exclusive story alleges, the non-trivial move would span years to complete while costing billions of dollars.

Worse, Apple would expose itself to unforeseen difficulties not limited to yield issues: running a sophisticated chip-making factory requires a disciplined approach to attracting and retaining highly-trained engineers, one analyst cautioned Monday...

Apple may have bought into chip plant to perhaps build processors in-house

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

The SemiAccurate blog is known for a mixed track report in terms of hardware news (hence the name).

For instance, it correctly predicted Apple would switch back to Nvidia's graphics processors for 2012 MacBooks, but got it all wrong calling for an Intel-to-ARM transition for the Mac lineup by early 2013.

Today's exclusive story, hidden behind a $1,000 paywall, claims Apple has made the unthinkable by buying into a third-party chip plant.

The semiconductor facility is believed to be operated by United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), a Taiwan-based chipmaker established more than thirty years ago...

More evidence points to Apple expanding mobile chip development to Florida

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

New evidence has surface in the form of several Apple job postings advertising for silicon experts for the Orlando, Florida area, where the iPhone maker is rumored to be setting up a brand new shop for custom chip development. Among the seven positions advertised on the Apple Jobs web site are those specifically related to developing and testing processor and mobile graphics hardware...

Tension rises as Samsung complains about not receiving iPhone 6 chip orders

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 30, 2013

Despite the ongoing legal wrangling over mobile technology patents, Samsung to this date remains the only supplier of Apple-designed processors which drive iPhones, iPads and iPods. The South Korean conglomerate has been exclusively building these chips according to Apple's blueprints at its multi-billion dollar fabrication facility in Austin, Texas.

However, recent chatter increasingly points to rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) possibly stealing the Apple contract from Samsung as Apple looks to further distance itself from its chief rival.

A new report from South Korea alleges Apple has now actually excluded Samsung as a future mobile processor supplier. In turn, TSMC, which is the world's largest independent semiconductor foundry, may produce a significant portion, even possibly all of mobile chips for Apple's next-gen iPhone 6 to be released in 2014...

Apple (again) mulling shifting production of iPhone and iPad chips to Intel

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2017

A report Wednesday revives the old rumor that the world's leading chip maker, Intel, is working on a strategic deal to manufacture processors that power Apple's iPhones, iPads and iPods.

What's different this time around, though, is the timing: Intel's CEO Paul Otellini is on his way out and with CEO search still underway, the semiconductor giant could be poised to take its relationship with Apple to the next level.

The gist of the report is that Apple could contract Intel as a foundry, meaning the chip giant would tap its world-class manufacturing expertise to produce iPhone and iPad processors, as designed in-house by Apple, rather than persuade Tim Cook & Co. into adopting Intel's own mobile Atom x86 chip architecture, which hasn't made much inroads yet...

As the next iPhone looms, Apple slashes iPhone 5 panel and semiconductor orders

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

With about four months left until Apple's worldwide developers conference, chatter intensifies that Apple is re-aligning its suppliers. With both the iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 allegedly spotted in the wild and leaked parts cropping up on Chinese forums, new reports indicate that Apple has substantially cut iPhone 5 screen and chip orders.

And because Apple is the world's top chip buyer second only to Samsung, any material change in its orders immediately reflects on the entire industry. Little wonder that researches are now calling for a slow down in semiconductor equipment manufacturer orders...