Semiconductors

Apple sues Qualcomm over withholding $1B as ransom in Korean legal investigation

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 21, 2017

Apple on Friday announced it's suing iPhone modem supplier Qualcomm, which owns many wireless patents, “after years of disagreement over what constitutes a fair and reasonable royalty”. The suit argues Qualcomm withheld nearly $1 billion in payments it owes to Apple as retaliation because Apple cooperated with the Korea Fair Trade Commission. Last month, Korean regulators slapped Qualcomm with a $850 million fine over its patent-licensing practices.

Apple's suit, filed in federal district court in the Southern District of California, accuses Qualcomm of charging royalties for technologies “they have nothing to do with.” Responding to the complaint, Qualcomm called Apple's claims groundless and said they “misrepresented facts”.

iPhone 7 flash memory maker Toshiba could sell its NAND flash unit to Western Digital

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 20, 2017

DigiTimes estimated this week that flash memory chips for smartphones will remain in high demand throughout 2017 because supply shortages are reportedly “worse than expected” as chip makers are currently transitioning from older 2D NAND to newer 3D NAND technology.

According to a report Friday in The Korea Herald newspaper, citing Mirae Asset Daewoo Securities analysts, Toshiba may spin off of its lucrative NAND flash unit and sell the stake to Western Digital, narrowing the technology and market share gap with its bigger rival Samsung Electronics.

Qualcomm denies FTC’s claims it bribed Apple into using its modem chips

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 18, 2017

Yesterday, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged Qualcomm with monopolizing baseband modems used in smartphones, basically saying the company bribed Apple into not making a WiMAX iPhone in exchange for better royalties. The chip maker in a subsequent press release denied any wrongdoing, saying the FTC doesn't really understand how the mobile industry works.

Qualcomm under fire from FTC over allegedly forcing Apple to use its baseband modem chips

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 17, 2017

Now we know why Apple has made the controversial decision to dual-source baseband modem chips for iPhone 7 from both Intel and Qualcomm. Tuesday, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged Qualcomm with monopolizing baseband modems used in smartphones, saying the firm's leveraged its position to force Apple to use its baseband chips in exchange for lower patent royalties.

iPhone processor supplier TSMC hints it might build chips in America

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 13, 2017

As we reported this morning, iPhone manufacturer Foxconn and its Japanese subsidiary Sharp are considering setting up an $8 billion LCD panel production plant in the United States. According to another report, semiconductor maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) has also expressed interest in taking advantage of business-friendly incentives proposed by incoming U.S. President Trump.

As a reminder, TSMC currently churns out Apple-designed silicon for latest iOS devices and is also said to have landed a lucrative contract to build next-generation A11 chips for future Phones and iPads.

Poor yields for TSMC’s 10-nanometer process could disrupt next iPad launch

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 17, 2018

Trade publication DigiTimes said Friday that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has received orders to kick off volume production of Apple-designed A10X Fusion chips for the next iPad. However, unsatisfactory yields for TSMC's 10-nanometer process technology could disrupt planned March 2017 launch of the next iPad series.

The proportion of semiconductor devices on the silicon wafer found to perform properly is referred to as the yield. Yield rates in semiconductor fabrication can be as low as thirty percent due to process variation and many other reasons.

TSMC posts record profits as iPhone 7 demand fuels orders for A10 Fusion chip

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 8, 2016

Chip manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) today posted record profits and its shares have climbed to their highest level on record as strong demand for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus fuels orders for the handsets' in-housed designed A10 Fusion processor. That TSMC is the sole supplier of the A10 has no doubt helped it capture record profits amid a global slowdown in the smartphone market.

Apple’s new T1 chip that drives MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar runs “eOS”, a variant of watchOS

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 27, 2023

If early impressions are an indication, the Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro is definitely not a gimmick. The time-saving feature lets you accomplish common tasks faster without needing to memorize a bunch of app-specific keyboard shortcuts.

Instead or remembering a shortcut or wasting time finding it in the menus, you just touch one of the system-wide or app-specific icons that are displayed on the Touch Bar.

For the hardware geeks among us, the more interesting aspect of the Touch Bar is the Apple-designed silicon behind it, dubbed the T1. As developer Steven Troughton-Smith has discovered, the Touch Bar is actually a mini Apple Watch.

Qualcomm could buy NXP, which supplies iPhones with NFC and motion-tracking chips

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 5, 2017

Bloomberg's Alex Sherman and Ian King reported yesterday that fabless chip designer and Apple supplier Qualcomm could be buying NXP Semiconductors, a global semiconductor and analog circuitry manufacturer headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

NXP employs approximately 45,000 people in more than 35 countries and provides chips that give Apple devices features like power-efficient motion tracking and NFC for Apple Pay.

Apple hires COO and engineers from iPhone graphics provider Imagination Technologies

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 19, 2018

Combing through multiple LinkedIn profiles, MacRumors has discovered that Imagination Technologies COO John Metcalfe left the company in June along with a bunch of engineers and is now listed as a Senior Director at Apple, where he started in July. Imagination GPUs are found in Apple's in-house designed mobile chips for iOS devices.

TSMC to start mass producing 10nm chips nearly a year ahead of Intel

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC), which builds Apple's in-house designed A10 Fusion chip that powers the iPhone 7, has confirmed mass production of ten-nanometer chips for clients will kick off by year-end, beating Intel by almost a year in terms of high-performance silicon.

Chip maker Intel's own ten-nanometer chips are due in second half of 2017.

Apple has ramped up chip and component orders for Apple Watch Series 2

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 9, 2016

Apple appears confident that the new Apple Watch Series 2 will be twice as successful as the original model and has reportedly ramped up chip and component orders for the device, according to Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes that has solid sources in Asian supply chain.