[FONT="]Reuters has an exclusive report today that sounds the death knell for Apple’s manufacturing relationship with Samsung. According to Reuters sources, Apple has given the go-ahead to Taiwan firm TSMC to start trial production of next-generation chips for Apple devices, marking a shift away from Samsung, which is currently the sole manufacturer of the iPad 2’s A5 chip. The Reuters story doesn’t mention the A6 chip by name, but 9to5 Mac says that this is the chip that TSMC is currently working on producing. Samsung and Apple are currently involved in legal wrangles, so this move away from Samsung as a manufacturing partner by Apple has been predicted by those in the know for some time. However, Fubon Securities analyst William Wang told Reuters that he still doesn’t think Apple will sever all ties with Samsung:
[/FONT]
[FONT="]TSMC spokesperson Elizabeth Sun told Reuters that she had no comment on the issue, and neither did Apple or Samsung. [/FONT][FONT="]“Apple is trying to diversify its orders but it will still maintain some kind of relationship with Samsung…. Apple won’t give the whole 100 percent to TSMC. Maybe it’ll allocate only 20-30 percent.â€[/FONT]
Source: Exclusive: TSMC to make new Apple chips on trial | Reuters
[FONT="]Apple begins test production of A6 processor with TSMC, a blow to Samsung | 9to5Mac | Apple Intelligence[/FONT]