News & Analysis
Thanks to Apple, Samsung foundry sales to surge again
Dylan McGrath
8/21/2012 4:55 PM EDT
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IC Insights said TSMC was working at over 100 percent capacity utilization in the middle of this year and could not allocate a large amount of capacity to Apple. The firm also noted that, since Apple also buys a substantial amount of memory from Samsung, the South Korean firm is able to "bundle" its IC offerings to give Apple better pricing.
"While Apple and Samsung battle it out in the courtroom over system level issues, at the chip level, Apple must continue to endure its 'marriage of convenience' with Samsung," IC Insights said in a report circulated Monday (Aug. 20).
As Apple begins to engage TSMC and/or other foundries to produce its processors, Samsung will need to make up for lost sales by signing additional large foundry customers if the firm is going to retain or improve upon its position as the No. 4 foundry by sales, IC Insights said.
Samsung announced this week it would spend $4 billion to upgrade its foundry in Austin, Texas, where Apple's A4 and A5 processors are built.
Related stories:
Click on image to enlarge.
IC Insights said TSMC was working at over 100 percent capacity utilization in the middle of this year and could not allocate a large amount of capacity to Apple. The firm also noted that, since Apple also buys a substantial amount of memory from Samsung, the South Korean firm is able to "bundle" its IC offerings to give Apple better pricing.
"While Apple and Samsung battle it out in the courtroom over system level issues, at the chip level, Apple must continue to endure its 'marriage of convenience' with Samsung," IC Insights said in a report circulated Monday (Aug. 20).
As Apple begins to engage TSMC and/or other foundries to produce its processors, Samsung will need to make up for lost sales by signing additional large foundry customers if the firm is going to retain or improve upon its position as the No. 4 foundry by sales, IC Insights said.
Samsung announced this week it would spend $4 billion to upgrade its foundry in Austin, Texas, where Apple's A4 and A5 processors are built.
Related stories:
- Samsung is ninth going on fourth in foundry ranks, says Gartner
- Updated: Samsung fabs Apple A5 processor
- Apple vs. Samsung jury hears 84 instructions
- Samsung to invest $4B to upgrade Apple chip fab
- Patent system on trial in Apple, Samsung case
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kinnar
8/22/2012 8:03 AM EDT
It seems very strange that despite the patent trials between Apple and Samsung due to Apple's huge order Samsung is heading towards the top in IC making industries. Samsung itself has a huge demand of Semiconductor ICs if they will start using their own foundry produced ICs there are chances that they stand forward compared to the present state.
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elctrnx_lyf
8/22/2012 10:01 AM EDT
Samsung is going to the top leaving many companies down below with respect to business. Apple themselves are giving huge business to Samsung foundary services.
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wilber_xbox
8/22/2012 2:15 PM EDT
If Apple moves away from Samsung foundry then finding a similar kind of customer which can fill-in the vacuum created by Apple will be difficult. More customer would mean more design options and process complexity.
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Greg.Dee
8/24/2012 6:53 AM EDT
The statistics from "IC Insights" sound suspect given that Samsung themselves sell more than twice as many phones as Apple (world wide) let alone all their other electronics divisions.
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