Korea Times claims Samsung will be lead supplier for next year’s A-series chips

Korea Times is claiming that a deal has been struck with Apple for Samsung to supply 80% of the chips for next year’s iPhones and iPads, with TSMC picking up the balance of orders.

Samsung Electronics agreed with Apple to produce application processors (APs) from next year for iPhones and iPads, sources said Monday.

The agreement means Samsung will become a primary supplier of APs to Apple, pushing its chief Taiwanese rival TSMC back to second place. From 2016, the company will supply 80 percent of APs used in Apple devices, and TSMC the remainder.

The paper suggests that Samsung will split production of the A9 chip across its Korean and Texas plants, partnering with New York-based GlobalFoundries for additional capacity …

The Korea Times doesn’t have the best of track records when it comes to its reports on future production of A7 chips, claiming in April of last year that Apple had abandoned Samsung for the A7 chip, later proved wrong by teardowns. It was later reported that Samsung made around 30% of A8 chips, with TSMC fabricating the majority.

Chipworks found in September that the A8 chip used in the iPhone 6 was manufactured by TSMC rather than Samsung, a move believed responsible for falling profits in Samsung’s chip fabrication division.

There is, however, some evidence to suggest that Korea Times may be right this time: Samsung is already geared-up to manufacture chips using a 14-nanometre process, while TSMC was working only on 16-nanometre.

We’re sure there will be many more conflicting rumors between now and next year’s iPhones …