Samsung aims to 'triple' chipmaking business, likely counting on Apple iPhone orders
Samsung is working to triple its share of the contract chip manufacturing industry within the next five years, a company executive said on Monday -- possibly supporting rumors that Apple will add Samsung back to A-series production for next year's iPhones.
Samsung is looking to hit 25 percent marketshare by adding more clients, including a mix of big and small companies, Samsung foundry division leader E.S. Jung explained to Reuters. The goal is to become a "strong No. 2 player," he said.
The world's biggest contract chipmaker, TSMC, currently manufactures all of the A-series processors for new iPhones and iPads, and in fact controlled 50.6 of the overall contract industry in 2016 versus Samsung's slim 7.9 percent.
Samsung already has clients like Nvidia and Qualcomm, but may need a share of Apple orders if it wants to gain serious ground. The company hasn't been a significant part of Apple processor supply since the launch of the iPhone 6s in 2015, when A9 orders were split with TSMC.
Last week reports said that Samsung has already secured some orders for A-series processors due next year. Publicly, the company has only confirmed that it will start using extreme ultraviolet lithography to produce 7 nanometer chips in the second half of 2018 -- possibly just in time for an "iPhone 9," though it would still have to compete with TSMC.
Samsung is looking to hit 25 percent marketshare by adding more clients, including a mix of big and small companies, Samsung foundry division leader E.S. Jung explained to Reuters. The goal is to become a "strong No. 2 player," he said.
The world's biggest contract chipmaker, TSMC, currently manufactures all of the A-series processors for new iPhones and iPads, and in fact controlled 50.6 of the overall contract industry in 2016 versus Samsung's slim 7.9 percent.
Samsung already has clients like Nvidia and Qualcomm, but may need a share of Apple orders if it wants to gain serious ground. The company hasn't been a significant part of Apple processor supply since the launch of the iPhone 6s in 2015, when A9 orders were split with TSMC.
Last week reports said that Samsung has already secured some orders for A-series processors due next year. Publicly, the company has only confirmed that it will start using extreme ultraviolet lithography to produce 7 nanometer chips in the second half of 2018 -- possibly just in time for an "iPhone 9," though it would still have to compete with TSMC.
Comments
Samsung is going to pull away from TSMC also in foundry capabilities.
Samsung and Apple are going to dominate the mobile computing industry.
its interesting to see this year’s A10x because of these reasons. This is on 10nm, is about 96mm2, vs 145mm2 for the A9x, yet, it includes an additional performance and an additional efficiency core. That’s a very large drop in area, leaving a lot of room for - something. We also know that Apple has been trying to get Qualcomm to allow them to built the radio (often called a modem, incorrectly) on the SoC silicon, unsuccessfully. I suspect that if Apple and intel get together, then their newest radios, which cover all the frequencies and have speed at least equal to Qualcomm’s, would be allowed on the SoC.
thinking about why intel would be interested, we can look to the Microprocessor Reports estimate that Apple’s newest SoCs, year after year, cost between $34-38. The top Qualcomm and Samsung SoCs cost between $25-28. So these are expensive, by ARM SoC standards. If Apple sells 150 million flagship phones in the year, and 25 million flagship iPads, that’s 175 million SoCs (with the iPad x versions costing somewhat more) costing about $6 billion on the low end of estimates, or $7 billion on the high end. If this accumulates over the years, with SoCs dropping somewhat in price over time, then estimates run as high as $9 billion a year, more over time if Apple’s sales increase.
apple would also pay charges for Intel’s radios, how much I’m not sure, but I think it’s around $6. So add that in, and it’s easy to see why any company would be interested in this business.
Actually, Samsung saw the beast of a chip that Apple has designed and realised that each Galaxy will need 3 chips to compete with the iPhone. Hence they are tripling!
As for Sammy pulling away from TSMC or dominating anywhere in a fiery hot market (yes yes, I know) - we can talk about that too...but only AFTER they accomplish that!
2. Intel doesn't have the capacity to Fab Apple SoC, as strange as this may seems. They could expand their Fab, but you would have known these from previous IDF or shareholders meetings.
3. Intel's Modem is still manufactured in TSMC. So it is actually easier to use Intel Modem within the same Apple SoC then Apple jumping to Intel's Fabs.
4. You dont want to bet on a single supplier for commodity components like NAND and DRAM. Unless they are unbelievably cheap or sold at below cost. But given Tim Cook's management style he will likely wanted more choice rather then absolute low price. Afterall NAND and DRAM is only part of the BOM puzzle.
5. There is a reason why Foxconn, with funding from Apple are actively expanding their Product Line from OLED with Sharp and likely NAND from Toshiba, assuming the buy out go through.
2 Intel is big enough, and has more chip plants than anyone. They can do both.
as for the rest, yes I agree.