We've heard numerous stories about who will be producing the lion's share of A9 chips that will be employed on the next iteration of the Apple iPhone. But moving beyond this year's chip production, there is speculation that TSMC will be running a pilot line using the 10nm process in 12 factories in Hsinchu next month. At stake is millions of dollars in business from Apple for the 2016 version of the Apple iPhone.
According to this rumor, TSMC will be signing up companies for its 10nm process chips by the end of this year. Last month, TSMC said that it would start production of 10nm chips in 2016 with an eye toward 7nm production in 2017. But if next month's test is successful, and TSMC has its factories set up in time, the company could end up with 100% of the A10 chip production.
Take this with a grain of salt. Not only do reports of which company is responsible for Ax production traditionally alternate on a monthly basis, we are now talking about chips not expected to be deployed until next year. TSMC apparently does need a successful test to grab purchase orders from Apple, and we could know in a matter of weeks if yields and performance are up to Apple's standards.
