Apple buys into United Microelectronics Corporation; planning to build its own chips?
As we all know by now, Apple and Samsung have had something of a disagreement going for a while now. And, the ongoing litigation between the two companies has put a strain on their relationship, which has had Samsung manufacturing the processors that are used in iOS devices. There have been a lot of rumors that Apple is planning to ditch Samsung, but a new rumor says that Apple may just build its own chips.
The rumors have been circulating that Apple is looking to TSMC to build chips, and has even signed a deal with the company that could begin next year. But, SemiAccurate is reporting that TSMC doesn't have the "capacity or flexibility" that Apple needs to meet demands; and, to make up the difference Apple has bought into United Microelectronics Corporation, a Taiwan-based chipmaker.
We can't get at the full story, because SemiAccurate charges $1,000 per year for access, but apparently Apple has made a sizeable investment in UMC that could go beyond a manufacturing partnership and into territory which would have Apple building its own chips. We have already seen Apple hiring ex-AMD employees, and we all know how Apple likes to control its own hardware, so the rumor may not be that far fetched.
SemiAccurate has a... semi-accurate history with Apple rumors. The site had predicted Apple would ditch Intel in favor of ARM processors for its Mac line, which never happened, but it did accurately predict Apple returning to NVIDIA for graphics.
source: SemiAccurate via AppleInsider
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