if anybody had doubts about Apple's decision to have TSMC manufacturing the ARM Ax chips, this new piece of information should convince everyone.
Taiwan-based TSMC sent a delegation of 60 people to Cupertino in order to negotiate the conditions of the partnership. All the aspects of the partnership were discussed during the visit, from the commercial part to the technical aspects and the conception of the hundreds of millions of chips that should be produced each year.
In order to avoid any legal problem, TSMC signed a license agreement with ARM in order to be allowed to conceive and produce these ARM chips using the current and future designs of the chips.
This partnership appears to be very important for TSMC, which will dedicate most of its 28 nm production to Apple chips. It is also very important for Apple since it is currently Samsung that produces the A4 and A5 chips. Apple wants to end its dependence to Samsung, which has become a dangerous competitor, in addition to be one of Apple's biggest suppliers.
