Apple shifts it's A9 chip production from Samsung to TSMC

Up until last year, Samsung had been the sole
manufacturer of Apple’s in-house chips used inside
the iPhone and the iPad. In a bid to diversify its
supply-chain this year, Apple shifted the majority of
the production of its A8 chips found inside the iPhone
6 and iPhone 6 Plus to TSMC.
In a bid to become the primary producer of the A9 chip
that will be used in the iPhone 7 and other iOS devices
next year, Samsung has now offered quotes lower than
TSMC to secure the order from Apple. To further
sweeten the deal, Samsung is also ready to
manufacture other flash based chips for Apple like
flash memory and perform other optimisation services.
According to industry sources close to
DigiTimes, Apple will finalise its primary supplier for
the A9 chip by the end of this quarter.
Apple shifting to TSMC for the production of its A8
chips had an adverse effect on Samsung’s logic chip
business as it profit fell sharply to $848 million in the
last quarter.
Apple’s upcoming A9 chip is expected to be based on
the 1X FinFET process. Its current A8 and A8X chip are
based on the 20nm fabrication process.