Samsung, ASE tapped to build Apple Watch's S1 processing module - report
AppleInsider Staff
Apple will reportedly turn to longtime supplier and sometimes-rival Samsung to fabricate the application processor for the forthcoming Apple Watch, while Taiwan's Advanced Semiconductor Engineering is said to have been chosen to package the new device's S1 processing module.
Samsung will manufacture the chip on its 28-nanometer fabrication process, according to DigiTimes. Apple is believed to have ordered up to 4,000 12-inch wafers per month.
The application processor is just one piece of Apple's S1, which employs a system-in-package, or SiP, design. This allows the company to incorporate a number of disparate chips into a single package, making the resulting component smaller and lighter while reducing power consumption.
Alongside the application processor, Apple's S1 package will include mobile DRAM, NAND flash for storage, and circuitry to control functions like wireless connectivity and touch input. It remains unclear which firms have been chosen as the source for these secondary components.
Taiwan-based Advanced Semiconductor Engineering — one of the world's largest semiconductor packaging firms — Â will be responsible for packaging and module assembly.
As per usual, Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company are said to be vying for the right to produce a second-generation "S2" module. The two firms have long fought each other for Apple's business, with TSMC winning its first production order for A-series chips last year.
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