TSMC to Begin Trial Production of Apple's A6X Chip This Quarter - MacRumors
Skip to Content

TSMC to Begin Trial Production of Apple's A6X Chip This Quarter

ifixit a6xAFP reports on claims from Taiwanese newspaper Commercial Times indicating that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is set to begin trial production of Apple's A6X chip sometime this quarter. The chip is currently used in the fourth-generation iPad introduced in October.

The Taiwanese company has been contracted to manufacture the A6X chip, which drives Apple's iPad4 tablet, 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.

Apple has been rumored for some time to be trying to switch to TSMC for production of its A-series chips, with some reports claiming that TSMC would be coming on board late this year for next-generation chips. More recent reports have claimed that TSMC could start production for Apple as soon as the second quarter, perhaps in line with today's rumor of trial production in the first quarter of the year.

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.4 Adds Two New Features to CarPlay

Tuesday March 24, 2026 1:55 pm PDT by
iOS 26.4 was released today, and it includes a couple of new features for CarPlay: an Ambient Music widget and support for voice-based chatbot apps. To update your iPhone 11 or newer to iOS 26.4, open the Settings app and tap on General → Software Update. CarPlay will automatically offer the new features so long as the iPhone connected to your vehicle is running iOS 26.4 or later....
Apple Business hero

Apple Unveils 'Apple Business' All-in-One Platform

Tuesday March 24, 2026 8:53 am PDT by
Apple today announced Apple Business, a new all-in-one platform that unifies device management, productivity tools, and customer outreach features. The service is designed to be a consolidated replacement for several of Apple's existing business-focused offerings, including Apple Business Essentials, Apple Business Manager, and Apple Business Connect. It provides organizations with a single...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Tuesday March 24, 2026 12:31 pm PDT by
Apple today released new firmware for the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and the AirPods 4. The firmware has a version number of 8B39, up from 8B34 on the AirPods Pro 3, 8B28 on the AirPods Pro 2, and 8B21 on the AirPods 4. There is no word on what's included in the firmware, but Apple has a support document with limited notes. Most updates are limited to bug fixes and performance...

Top Rated Comments

173 months ago
I've really never understood why people continue to call Samsung's phones "cheap," as if the plastic used is terrible quality.

Beacuse they are?

Step 1: Hold Galaxy phone in hand
Step 2: Give gentle squeeze
Step 3: listen to the creaking and feel the rubbish build quality
Step 4: Put rubbish phone down, pick iPhone up
Step 5: Squeeze iPhone and observe the wonderful build quality
Step 6: Buy iPhone.
Step 7: Repeat steps 1-7 yearly
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
173 months ago
Excellent news, Samsung can now better concentrate on making cheap, plastic phones.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
173 months ago
I've really never understood why people continue to call Samsung's phones "cheap," as if the plastic used is terrible quality.

I have a galaxy note 2, 1 drop on the floor and I can now see a lot of the white bezel underneath the very thin paint coating on plastic! So yeah, I would say Samsung phones are built on the cheap, you get what you pay for, that's where the price difference of £50 came between iPhone and Galaxy Note 2 in my case, better materials...
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
173 months ago
Try this on for size

Apple still needs Samsung.

At this point tsmc cannot produce enough chips.

The key words here being "at this point". Apple can throw a billion dollars at TSMC and say "go build us a factory." In a year or two, will Apple need Samsung?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Compile 'em all Avatar
173 months ago
Bye bye, Samsung!
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
173 months ago
Bye bye, Samsung!

Remember what happened to 'Bye bye, Google'?

hahahaha
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)