| | | It was expected to be 20nm and fabbed at TSMC. It would have been a very major shock in the industry if it had turned out to be still on 28nm (and at Samsung, where all previous Apple CPUs in the A series have been manufactured).
Apple has been trying to diversify their CPU chips from Samsung, but it has been difficult prior to now. This is the first time they have relied on TSMC for this component. Rumors for next year are that Samsung might get some or most of the A9 orders back from TSMC, but TWT.
However, IMHO, the REALLY significant news here is that the A8 on a 20nm process exceeds Intel's best which was just released: The Core-M on a 14nm process. Intel is trying to push into mobile, and most the industry pundits swallow the claim that Intel has an insurmountable lead in chip process tech, and this will play to their advantage, and to the disadvantage of Apple and others. The numbers out today on the A8 paint a much different picture: Apple will have a very competitive stance in process tech using the Foundries, against Intel's attempts to enter the mobile gadget space.
I have yet to see a single pundit comment on this today. Most of them seem completely clueless... |
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