Quote:
Originally Posted by
drblank 
Sounds like Samsung wants to charge Apple money extra to pay the fines they owe them.. Sleazy if you ask me.
Not sleazy. That is just plain smart.
Samsung raised the price of components because they know that they have Apple on lockdown.
Apple had no choice but to accept the terms because they had no alternative.
There is a news articles that states this. Apple first balked at the increase in price, but finally had to give in due to lack of an alternative.
Samsung knew this and squeezed. That is business smart, not sleazy.
While I'm at it, it's rumored that TSMC will devote a majority of their facilities to produce Apple's chips. Guess where their other customers will be going? Samsung.
Also, since Apple is rumored to move its production of its own chips to another fab, the fab that is accepting the move should also be worried. Why? Because now there is a risk that the customer will be moving to yet another fab, making the justification for plant improvement less than appealing from the supplier point of view.
Not only that, since Apple will have a lockdown on the supplier, they will ask for ever cheaper prices to supply their chips, shrinking the profit margins of the fab. (This is what is happening with Apple's current suppliers).
Rather than Apple having good relations with its suppliers, I see them having an increasingly difficult time. Their profit margins will decrease and so do their share prices, suppliers wont be jumping on the chance of supplying Apple with their components because of their high demands for low prices, which eats into the supplier's margins.
Ultimately, I see the day when Apple will have to force themselves to invest in hard capital intensive facilities like what Samsung is doing and become a fully vertically integrated company in order to survive. By then, it will already be too late.
Edited by Galbi - 11/13/12 at 7:42pm
