It’s time for your daily iPad 3 rumor/news, this time from 9to5mac.com. Apple has long been rumored to be awarding the chip making for the iPad 3 to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and those rumors have now been all but confirmed by TSMC itself. The Taiwanese manufacturer will be mass producing the A6 chip some expect to be running the iPad 3’s processor. This A6 chip will be produced using the TSMC 28-nanometer process and are set to begin mass production early next year. According to the company’s head of research and development, production of these chips will have the plant working at full capacity.
TSMC also appears to be hoping to keep a relationship with Apple well beyond 2012. Chiang also said that his company was soon going to begin working on coming up with a 14-nanometer chip process in the near future. The 14-nanometer nodes are expected to begin production in 2015. TSMC and other component suppliers are recognizing a rift between Apple and Samsung, which has been the chip supplier for almost all Apple products for the last few years. The fact that by all accounts they won’t be working on the chip for the iPad 3 speaks volumes on how much that relationship has deteriorated.
Another nice little detail from what Chiang said is that this process will not be available until early in 2012. This adds to previous rumors for when the A6 chip is set to begin production. It also fits in nicely with the completely unconfirmed but widely believed launch date for iPad 3.
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