Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co will soon start making microchips
for Apple as the US tech giant reduces manufacturing contracts with its
South Korean rival Samsung, reports said Wednesday.
The Taiwanese
company has been contracted to manufacture the A6X chip, which drives
Apple's 4th generation iPad, with trial production set for the first
quarter of this year, Taiwan's Commercial Times reported.
The move is the latest in a strings of efforts by Apple to switch mass manufacturing contracts away from Samsung, it said.
The
South Korean firm, the world's top mobile phone maker and Apple's
leading competitor in the smartphone market, produces microchips and a
range of other products for its American rival.
Both Taiwan
Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Bravo, a Taiwanese PR company
handling Apple's media relations, declined to comment on the report.
Apple and Samsung have been locked in a series of patent lawsuits.
Samsung
was ordered by a US jury in August to pay Apple $1.05 billion in
damages for illegally copying iPhone and iPad features for its flagship
Galaxy S smartphones. Samsung has appealed the ruling.