Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and its IC design service partner Global UniChip have secured a three-year agreement with Apple to supply foundry services for the next A-series chips built using 20nm, 16nm and 10nm process nodes, according to industry sources.
There's a lot of roadmap details here. I'm sure Apple won't be pleased.
- A8 chips for iPhone 5 successor, based on 20nm: tapeout Jul'13, volume production: early 2014
- A9/A9X chips for newer-generation iPhone and iPad, based on 16nm FinFET / 20nm backend: Q3'14
- A three year agreement puts them in 2016 for the 10nm node - back to a 2-year cadence
Seems a little "off" to be expecting volume production of FinFET only 2 quarters after initial 20nm designs. TSMC has not blinked from their aggressive schedules. Is it a breakthrough, or a game of chicken?
Man oh Man, I told you guys that Tim Cook ficken hates INTC with a passion. Tim Cook is bad news for INTC. Good thing is - he has no charisma or much of a vision for the company's future. I am a little shocked at how gullable he is with TSMC promising the world in three years - 10nm. Seems that Tim Cook forgot about the train wreck they had at 32nm. Wonder how he is gonna feel when they train again trying to get 10nm in 3 years. If Tim wasn't hell bent on screwing INTC - he would have been wiser to sign the deal for say 1 or 2 nodes. Odds are not good for TSMC's credibility right now.