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As Microsoft leans toward designing its own ARM chip to catch Apple’s great leap forward with Mac machines powered by Apple Silicon, the two companies will be looking to augment or gain an advantage over the other.
Meanwhile, Samsung is sitting quietly to the side, ready to fulfill the manufacturing order for any silicon designed by either company. It is a mutual benefit for the Samsung Foundry division.
SHANGHAI, November 7, 2020: A foldable phone is on display at the Samsung booth in the Consumer … [+]
Xinhua News Agency / Getty Images
Looking at Apple, both the latest A14 processors for the iPhone and iPad and the new M1 chips for the Mac family are based on a 5nm architecture. As it stands, there are two foundries that are capable of supporting that process … TSMC is one and Samsung is the other. Currently, TSMC is Apple’s sole supplier, but with Apple moving the entire Mac lineup to its own silicon, the option will be to keep all the work with TSMC or bring Samsung in as a second supplier.
Given Apple’s reputation for creating its own market with more than one supplier in each area, combined with increasing chip requirements, it’s a safe bet that the Samsung Foundry will be included in those expansion plans. Samsung is also using aggressive pricing to win business, which will be another point for Cupertino to consider.
On the other side of the coin is Microsoft. With reports over the weekend that it is working on its own chip design primarily for use in its own data centers, but there are also discussions about potential use on specific Surface devices.
Like Apple, Microsoft will design the chips, but the manufacturing will have to come from a vendor with the relevant expertise. Which brings us back to the TSMC choice. Although the partnership between Microsoft and Qualcomm for the ARM chips inside the Surface Pro X were 7nm processors made by TSMC, you can be sure that Samsung will pursue the new silicon design just as aggressively as other offerings.
Add in Samsung’s own line of Exynos chips and the upcoming 2100 processor set to power its flagship smartphones in 2100, and it all looks good for the 2021 order book. And that shouldn’t come as a surprise.
When the world is in a gold rush, the real money is in the shovels and peaks. When the world is in an ARM race, the 5nm fabrication plant is king.
Now read more about another of Apple’s design goals, its own 5g modem …
