Industry Expert Blogs
Did Apple Influence AMD's TSMC Foundry Switch?SemiWiki - Ed McKernanNov. 28, 2011 |
During the weekend, I read two articles that highlighted Apple’s LCD supply chain build out and started to think of how this would look if Apple were to do the same on the x86 side of the ledger. The two articles, one related to Hitachi and Sony building a new 4” LCD for iphones and a more extensive one on Sharp building a new LCD for the iPAD3 due in 2012 highlight the extent to Apple’s involvement in design and investment to guarantee supply at a much reduced cost so that competitors are left gasping. Turning to the processor world, we know Apple has selected TSMC to Fab their 28nm A6 processor. Why not pull AMD into the Apple-TSMC supply chain ecosystem in order to outmaneuver the raft of Intel based Ultrabook PCs that are headed to the market in 2012?