Technology

Samsung and Apple sign deal for Apple’s next generation CPUs

After having lost out to TSMC in 2013, Samsung is back manufacturing chips for Apple. The Investor is reporting that the two have inked a deal that will see Samsung back to manufacturing Apple’s A12 line of chips built on a 7 nm process.

According to sources, one of Samsung’s three co-CEOs was instrumental in closing the deal. Kwon Oh-hyun, who oversees Samsung’s parts and chips business was able to persuade the top brass at Apple about Samsung’s technical know-how on OLED tech and how it could be useful in the chip-making process. With Apple going for OLED panels with its upcoming iPhone 8, handling the new kind of display would be a mandatory requirement for the new A12 CPUs. Samsung is awaiting approval from Apple on its chip-manufacturing tests and will start producing as soon as it receives the same.

Samsung has become a dominant player in the chip-making business with revenues from its semiconductor business reaching $5.6 billion in Q1 2017. With almost all of the major smartphone manufacturers either using OLED tech or planning a switch (Xiaomi is looking at incorporating OLED displays as well), Samsung’s dominance and advantage in this field is poised to stay on for a long while now.