Report: Apple Dropping Samsung As Chip Production Partner

Ars Technica reports that Apple is likely to contract Taiwan Seminconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to build its A6 chips, citing numerous industry sources. The move would end the frayed relationship between Apple and Samsung, which has been marred by a high profile legal dispute.

In April, Apple filed a patent infringement suit against Samsung claiming that Samsung's Galaxy smartphones and tablets were clones of Apple's iPhone and iPad. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Northern California, accused Samsung of infringing on Apple's patents and engaging in unfair competitive practices.

Not to be outdone, Samsung filed a patent infringement suit against Apple in Seoul, Korea. The legal battle continued last week when Apple filed a lawsuit of its own in Seoul, which cites the same claims as the previous lawsuit against Samsung.

With all the courtroom drama between the two companies, it's no surprise that Apple has decided to take its A6 chip manufacturing business elsewhere. Samsung has produced Apple's A4 processor for the original iPad as well as the A5 process for the iPad 2. Those chips, along with the forthcoming A6, are based on ARM's Cortex mobile semiconductor architecture.