Replacing Chinese with Mexicans
While Apple has been outsourcing most of its chip production to China, it seems that it has decided that another developing nation should get the work building its A5 processor. According to Reuters, Apple's A5 will be made in Austin Texas, which is now a famous centre for IT, which was founded in 9,500 BC and has been a home to Ice Age residents ever since. [What Ice Age? Also, the Earth is just 6,000 years old, praise the Lord. Ed.]
The A5 processor will be made in a 1.6 million square feet factory in Austin owned by Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics. After the chip is made and installed in iPads and iPhones, and the cheque clears, Samsung will sue Apple for stealing its ideas. Apple will sue Samsung for using a different chip in other products. This is the way of things in IT at the moment.
Samsung also produces NAND flash memory chips for the machines in Austin so if its Apple relationship goes tits up it will still have something to do. The A5 processor uses technology licensed from Britain's ARM Holdings, is designed by Apple in California. So there is still a little bit of gear not made in China.
More here.
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