TSMC Lands A8X Processor Orders for 'Next-Generation' iPad?

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has reportedly landed orders to produce the A8X chip for Apple's next-generation iPad, according to DigiTimes. The site says the iPad is expected to be released in early 2015, so it's likely referring to the rumored 12.9-inch iPad. Apple is expected to unveil a new 9.7-inch iPad Air this week.

TSMC is currently fabricating Apple's A8 processors for the iPhone 6 devices, which hit the market recently and total shipments are expected to reach 70-80 million by the end of 2014. TSMC will continue to make the new CPUs for the new iPad on a 20nm process as it did currently for the A8 processors, said the sources, adding that the new CPU is tentatively codenamed A8X.

The SoC of the A8X will be larger than that of A8's, which could post a challenge to TSMC in terms of yield rates, the sources commented. The 20nm products accounted for 10% of TSMC's total revenues in the third quarter of 2014, and the ratio is likely to climb over 20% in the fourth quarter.


TSMC is also said to be producing a number of other chips for the iPhone 6 including, Dialog's power management (PWM) ICs, Qualcomm's 4G baseband chips, Synaptics' LCD driver ICs, InvenSense's 6-axis gyroscopes, and AhthenTec's fingerprint sensors.

Leaked images have also suggested that the iPad Air 2 will be using the A8X processor. You can check out those images here.

In addition to new iPads, Apple will likely unveil a new Retina 27-inch iMac at tomorrows event and launch OS X Yosemite. Please follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS for updates.

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