Apple, in a clear kick to the groin of the Samsung collective, has consigned trial production of its future A6 processor to the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.
While the A6 wont appear in any Apple devices until 2012 and with A5 production still in the hands of Samsung, it appears the legal battle royal between Samsung and Apple is resulting in a rather nasty divorce.
Samsung has been the sole manufacturer of Apple's A4 and A5 processors, giving Samsung a steady stream of reliable cash. However, the trial production consignment does not mean Apple will be using TSMC for the production run of its A6 chip. If Apple actually decides to contract with TSMC for the production run, that might as well be Apple's signature on the divorce papers with Samsung.
TSMC is the largest contract chip manufacturer in the world according to CNET, and Apple moving forward with the company does makes sense. Although, Intel has recently mentioned they are actively courting Apple for business as well. If the relationship with Samsung continues to sour, at least Apple has some viable chip manufacturing alternatives.
Source: CNET
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